Belonging
by Tsuru Maiden
Summary: Raph finally meets his match when he clashes with another sai user, and ends up losing his sais to the mysterious fighter in their first battle. His opponent turns out to be a teenage half snake mutant named Ren, an outcast who desperately seeks belonging and friendship. The two share many traits, from their weapons to their rash natures. How will they fare side by side? Raph X OC
1. Nice sais

Further summary: Raph clashes with another sai user and ends up losing his sais to her when he loses the battle. Determined to regain his sais, Raph desperately tracks Ren down and battles her again, but he gets more than he's prepared for when he starts to learn more about the mysterious teenage half mutant and grows closer to her. Please please please read and review.

* * *

Ren lounged listlessly on the couch in her room, staring at her large collection of weapons, displayed in a gigantic wooden cabinet with glass windows. Staffs, Katanas, Nun-chucks, Knives, Short swords, Daggers… You name it. Ren had always possessed a deep interest for weapons since young. Her father (when he had been alive, she thought with a bitter smile), a blacksmith, had taught her about the various different weapons, and she had spent her childhood days watching him carve, weave and craft intricate and beautiful weapons from metal. But Ren had also always been more partial to short-length weapons. And it not only had to be short, it had to be a pair, and that was how her weapon choice became the twin sais that she held so precious to herself. But after receiving her sais, Ren had continued exploring about for new weapons, and when she found ones she was interested in, she would proceed to hunt down its owner and engage in a battle, with the prized weapons as wager.

And she had never lost, not even once.

So her collection had grown, and under every weapon displayed in the different compartments of the cabinet, she had painstakingly engraved the weapon's name, as well as the date it had been acquired. But even going through her prized collection would not help now. She felt restless; she wanted to move, to run across roofs of the buildings, feeling the wind sting her face and her blood pulse enthusiastically through her veins. Getting up from the couch, she walked out of her room and into the large hall.

"Saki-sama, may I go out tonight?" Kneeling down, Ren addressed the man training with his loyal ninja troop. The dark-haired man turned to survey her, not missing a beat as he continued avoiding the attacks from his training opponents. His usual garb, his metal armour and his claws, that had earned him the fearsome nickname 'The Shredder', was laid aside for the time being.

"Why"- he deflected a punch from one of the ninjas- "Is that"- now he planted a kick on one of them and sent him flying back- "So?" At his last word, he promptly punched the remaining ninja square on the chest, sending him crashing into the others.

"I… I feel restless. It would be nice to go for a walk. After all, it is dark, and no one can see me. I also need some more exercise." Ren tried to hide her eagerness as she placed her hands side by side her body, where her sais usually hung, though her emerald eyes still sparkled intently.

"Very well. Be back before dawn." Her adopted father and master replied shortly before ordering his ninja troop to get up again and continue training. Ren bit back the urge to punch the air in triumph and disappeared back into her room swiftly. Changing into a ripped black hoodie and dark khaki cargo pants, she ran her fingers through her coarse orange hair, cut so short that it resembled a boy's , barely even reaching her ears.

Looking at her reflection in the mirror, Ren hesitantly touched the scales that covered the right part of her face, flinching slightly at its rough and scaly texture. She glared hatefully at her left arm as well, which was also adorned with scales; they were the reason she had to resort to going out only when no other humans were about. But now was not the time to dwell on that. Ren grabbed her precious twin sais from the couch and pushed aside the wooden window grills. Taking a deep breath, she grinned, and jumped out of the window to the nearest building.

Being a half snake mutant was useful at times, she supposed. She had greater endurance and stamina, and, she felt lesser pain landing from great heights, unless, of course if her master/ father were to throw her down from the Foot Clan's building, she would, with no doubt, die from the impact.

As Ren raced through the night sky as she jumped from roof to roof, she soon forgot about her worries and responsibilities. She was no longer Ren the freak, or half-mutant. She was no longer Oroku Ren, Oroku Saki's (AKA: Shredder's) adopted daughter or Top disciple. She was no longer the teenage girl who so desperately sought belonging. She was just Ren, the girl who loved to go racing across New York City's roofs with the wind blowing against her face.

* * *

"They're late, but I guess it's nice being alone too," Raph grunted as he advanced on his night patrol. He had been getting restless of late, and had been impatient to stretch his limbs at night as he and his brothers jumped from roof to roof, the cold wind rushing against his face...

And thus, when Mikey got his head stuck (literally) in another one of Don's contraptions, again, Leo had allowed Raph to go on patrol first, knowing how well his brother had been unusally impatient to take a breath of fresh air since many days; Master Splinter had been sterner about travelling to the "above world" recently. So here he was, alone, finally venturing out on his long awaited walk. Raph took out his sais and twirled them around his fingers absentmindedly, taking a seat at a corner of some roof with a broken air-conditioning vent. He didn't usually take breaks on patrols, but tonight, he wanted his freedom to last just a bit longer.

"Nice sais," a voice called out. Raph tensed his body and stood up to face the owner of the voice. Whoever he, or she was, the person was an owner of twin sais too, displayed across his/ her leather belt, though they were slightly longer and sharper than his own. Also, their handles had been bound by orange cloth, a call to his (or her? Raph was getting confused) short orange hair. The person's face was slightly shadowed by the black hood he/she wore, but seeing how short the length of his/her hair was, he decided the figure was a guy.

"I'm thinking you don't approach a five-foot tall ninja turtle _just_ to compliment his sais," Raph replied sardonically. "And without screaming too," he added.

"You're right," The person drawled. "To tell you the truth, I want your sais. Let's say we make a bet, the winner of the fight gets to go home with the opponent's sais," He gave a grin, showing of slightly pointed teeth.

"Fight? What fight?" Though Raph could't say he didn't entirely know the answer already.

"THIS!" The teenage boy launched forward and promptly slammed his heavy black boots into Raph's stomach, knocking the breath out of him momentarily. Raph stpped back and advanced for a punch, but the teenage boy caught it and slammed the side of his sai into Raph's face. Taking the momentum of falling sideways, Raph lunged out a side kick and succeeded in knocking the teeange boy off balance. As they both got up, what followed was a series of exchanging blows as the two fought on. Finally, Raph's own sais clashed against the figure's, where a test of strength promptly ensued. Raph pressed on, confident of his win. He was an expert of sais, after all, and his strength was no joke either. But when the teenager seemed to be pushed back, he grinned, another confident rash grin that vaguely reminded Raph of himself.

Suddenly, the teeenage boy increased the force of which his sais clashed with Raph, pushing the turtle back for a split second. But even a split second was enough for him, as the teenage boy pivoted gracefully on his left foot and kicked his right foot into Raph's stomach, sending the turtle crashing into the ground, his sais flying away and falling with a dull clatter. Raph yelled in pain as his vision started to blur from the impact of hitting his head. The teenager was definitely no amateur in physical combat, though Raph knew it was a little late only realising now. Leaving Raph groaning and struggling to get up from his position, the teenage boy proceeded to pick up the runaway sais.

"Looks like my win," he whispered, or rather, hissed, strangely snake-like, as he slung Raph's sais across his belt. But a wave of anger engulfed Raph as the figure started walking away.

With his sais.

"HYYYYYAAAAAAA!" Raph shouted as he summoned up his remaining strength and jumped, landing on to the hooded teenager, bringing him crashing to the ground as he himself had done to Raph a short while ago. But the figure turned halfway as Raph had let out his "war-cry", and Raph landed on him, hands on his collar, as his hood fell back, revealing a full profile of his face.

"Y-you're a girl," he stammered. That was when he realised that their faces were close enough for him to register the shock in her green eyes, as well as the scales on the right side of her face. And that was when Raph learnt two things. 1. That the teenager was a girl and 2. She was no normal human.

"P-PERVERT!" The girl spat as she grabbed Raph's right arm and bit down on it. Hard.

"GAHHH! LET GO YOU-" But before Raph could finish his sentence, the girl jumped back nimbly. Then, a wave of numbness hit him, and his head started to ache. Falling to the ground, he vaguely registered the girl looking back at him- a look of uncertainity crossing her face momentarily, before running, disappearing from his view. Then the world started going black, and he was dimly aware of his brothers calling out his name in concern.

But Raph was too deep in his state of half-sleep to answer, and he was still hazily thinking back on his encounter with the female orange haired sai-user, and how he had lost, actually _lost_, his precious sais to her.


	2. Not a bad name

"…Aph. Raph, can you hear me?"

"Be quiet, Mikey, Master Splinter said he needs to rest,"

"But it's been so long! It's already night time! He's been unconscious for 24 WHOLE hours!"

"Hang on guys; I think he's coming through,"

Raph groaned as he opened his eyes; his head was spinning, and his body ached.

"What happened?" he finally managed to inquire as he struggled to regain his senses. The worst part of waking up after being knocked out was having completely no idea where he was, and exactly what had happened. Raph looked around, though his vision was still blurry. But he could still make out the familiar view of the roof of the sewers him and his brother (not to mention Master Splinter) resided in. That meant that Leo, Don and Mikey had managed to bring him home after he passed out.

"Well, after we managed to pull Mikey's big head out of Don's invention, we went to look for you," Leo started to explain, leaning over the couch his brother was lying on.

"We saw you fighting with this orange-haired dude before you passed out!" Mikey added rambunctiously, prompting Don to hit his head to quiet down.

"Orange-haired dude?" Raph echoed hazily, "Err... Yea, right."

"They must mean that girl," he realised. From that distance, there was no possible way Leo, Don and Mikey could have realised his opponent was a girl, and had naturally assumed she was a boy from how short her hair was. Not that he did intend to let them know that; they would never make him ever forget getting his shell kicked by a girl.

"And we also found out why you lost consciousness, you got injected with numbing poison," Don revealed.

"Numbing poison? How the shell did numbing poison get on me?!" Raph demanded, his head spinning, though he mentally recalled being bitten by the girl. Had she injected the poison into him somehow through the bite?

"Beats me, though you were lucky it was just a mild one, or the effects would have been even more serious!" The purple bandanna turtle warned. A pause of silence followed after his statement as all three turtles stared at Raph, half expecting him to break into an elaborate account of how he so was near victory when fighting the orange-haired boy, with multiple excuses, or, reasons, he insisted on calling them, to explain his lost. But he didn't. In fact, he did just the opposite of what they expected.

"Erm, guys, I'm still a little woozy so, NIGHT!" Raph gabbled as he shifted his position in his couch so that he would no longer face his brothers and pretended to sleep. His brothers looked on, somewhat stunned.

"Hey, you guys think that Raph's head got knocked a litte too hard when he passed out?" Mikey asked loudly.

"The poison must have worn him down, let him rest some more," Leo dismissed the matter before Mikey could crack anymore comments on the matter, and the trio left him to rest. Upon hearing his brothers leave, Raph heaved a sigh of relief and rolled around to face the ceiling once more.

His brothers didn't know, weren't _aware_ that aside from losing the battle, he had also lost his weapons, his precious _sais_. Raph sat up and stared gloomily at the floor. It felt as if a part of him had been forcefully ripped out, leaving a hollow cavern in its place. Raph gripped his fists tightly and slammed them on his legs, cursing. A rematch, another duel with that wretched orange-haired teenage girl with the strange appearance, was the only way to regain his sais back.

Raph prayed hard that she would turn up again, and that none of his brothers would discover his plans and realise that he had lost his weapons. Stealthily, he crawled out of the couch and laid the blanket over a dummy. If he had been unconscious for one whole day, then that meant he had left the sewers yesterday at around this time. Taking a deep breath, Raph snuck out of the sewers as quietly as possible. Only until he was on the roof did he break out into a full sprint, hoping that when the same roof came into view, he would be able to catch a glimpse of that same orange hair, just like before.

* * *

Ren looked around blankly, as if she was in a dream. Just her luck that when Master Saki was in a good enough mood to let her go out two nights in a row, she found herself back to the same roof as yesterday, with its broken air-conditioning vent and dusty floor. She wasn't even _sure_ why she was back, it was a waste of her precious free time.

Was it to see if there were more any more people with weapons that would attract her interest?

Or because she wanted to see that mutant turtle with the red bandana again?

Ren shook her head, frustrated. Even if it had been the second reason, (which she assured herself multiple times was not) the mutant turtle had still caught sight of her face, and that would be more than enough to scare him away.

"Though, his own appearance ain't that much normal either," Ren mumbled. Maybe, the reason that she had come back was because she wanted to meet that mutant turtle again (and not, she repeated venomously, NOT, because she missed him or felt drawn to him) but because of seeing how desperate he had been to get his sais back the previous night. Throughout all the fights she had been through, with weapons to bring back as prized trophies, Ren had never met a person who was brave enough to attempt recovering their weapons again. They generally made a run for it, or were unconscious- unable to voice their protests even if they wanted to (though Ren suspected that if they had been awake, they would _still_ not dare to try to get back their weapons after receiving such a beating down, or after catching sight of her face.) Though, she had also never fought a mutant turtle before. And not only just a mutant turtle, a _teenage_ mutant _ninja_ turtle. Besides, guilt flashed through her. They were both sai users, what right did she have to take away his sais? If she had been in his place, she would be drowning in despair over her loss; her sais were a part of her, if they were to be wrenched from her simply because she was weak... She never felt the same over any other victory. This felt different.

Ren was silent for a while. Footsteps, plus the sound of panting, informed her of his arrival. She fought back a grin.

"I didn't think you would be back," The orangehead commented, smirking, as she turned around to face the turtle. "Especially after getting such a clear view of my face." She added, absentmindedly moving her hand towards her right eye- where the scales were engraved.

"Well, I wasn't 100% sure you would be back either," Raph snarled back, "Now ye got something of mine, and I'd like it back!" he spat.

"A rematch, eh?" She had expected it, after all, for if it had been _her_ that had lost her precious sais, she would have undoubtedly hunted down the responsible party and recovered them through any means. "Fine then, I need something to entertain me. So if you win, you get your sais back, and if _I_ win, then I continue keeping them," Raph was about to agree, though a sudden idea struck him.

"Hey, why not add a little more to the wager? If I win, I also get to ask you some questions, and shell, ya better answer them properly! For starters, who are you, what is your name, AND HOW THE SHELL DID YOU INJECT NUMBING POISON INTO ME?!" Raph roared, recalling the painful experience of receiving the poison, as well as its unpleasant after-effects.

"Oh, that? I can answer the last question right now." Ren opened her mouth a little and pointed to her slightly pointed teeth, which bore uncany resemblance to fangs.

"So, your bite?"

"Technically, my _teeth_. And if your next question is gonna be _how_, then that would have to wait until after the match," With that, Ren cut the conversation and charged forward to attack. Jumping halfway through her sprint, she delievered a flying kick to Raph, who ducked back and received a graze to his face.

"Hey" -Ren dodged a punch from Raph- "So if I" -She swept her right leg forward to knock Raph off the ground, though the latter jump and avoided it- "win, then I" -He swung his fist forward, but she easily deflected it- "Get to ask questions too?"

"Yep, IF you win," Raph grinned, feeling his heart beat faster from the excitement of the battle. He threw several punches, but Ren backed away, barely missing them by inches, and ducked low, pretending to lunge forward for a series of punches. Raph dodged back, confident that she would not reach him that way in time, but that was a mistake.

"Game on!" She yelled as she simply stepped forward to cover up the distance and unleashed an upper punch, knocking Raph to the ground once again. "Gotcha!" Ren grinned in triumph, bending over Raph, though the turtle had been ready for it.

"Think again!" Raph shouted back as he gripped the collar of his opponent's hoodie and slammed them beside where he lay, effectively using the momentum to switch places. "I win, now gimme back my sais!" He demanded. Ren stared back at him dumbly, her emerald eyes unreadable, and Raph suddenly remembered how she had bitten and injected the pain-in-the-shell poison into him, and hastily removed his arms from her collar.

"Fool," she grinned, swinging her right arm forward, which, while not enough force to remove him from her, gave her enough freedom to retract her legs as she once again slammed her black boots into the reptilian's chest.

"GAH!" Raph groaned in pain as he found himself knocked back onto the dusty ground. Again. Ren walked over to him and he scrambled to get up, but soon found himself unable to do so by the sai pointed at his throat.

"Gonna stab me? I can't answer questions with blood flowing everywhere," Raph commented in a casual tone, though his eyes darted around hastily, trying to find an opening. But much to his surprise, Ren dropped the sai she was holding- which turned out to be his, and dropped his other sai at his feet too.

"Yea, it's no fun," she grunted, now fingering with her own sais, her eyes slightly unfocused- as if she was somewhere else. Raph got to his feet, holding on firmly to his sais, and assumed a battling stance, though he could tell Ren was no longer interested in fighting.

"Y'know, seeing as how fast you are on your feet and how skilled you are with the sais and all that, you could have just used them from the start of the battle and kicked my shell," Raph pointed out uncertainly.

"No fun. What's the point of using your sais to fight against an opponent with no weapon to fight back?" She answered listlessly, now swinging her sais around her finger. "You'd just knock 'em out before any real fun can set in."

"Erm... Let's call this a draw, so we both get to ask questions, but I ask first," Raph blurted out, more unnerved than he liked to show about Ren's quick change in character. Now she just seemed bored, in contrast to her confident self before, almost as if she had ran out of battery.

"First of all, name, and second, who are you?" Ren smirked at his questions. Greatly predictable.

"I'm surprised that you said 'Who are you' instead of 'What are you', you don't strike me as a person- I mean, _turtle_, with alot of tact," She corrected herself, grinning, and Raph knew that her annoying and cocky self was back, though he admitted to himself silently that it was better than her overly spacey self mere moments ago.

"Just answer the question!"

"Sure thing, Grumpy-Pants. My name is Ren, and I am a half-mutant. A half _snake_ mutant. I dunno why it's only a half mutation either- maybe they didn't use enough mutation serum, maybe the mutation was just a test and failed. Either way, I'm stuck like this." She added the extra information for Raph's benefit, seeing his mildly confused expression. The two had settled themselves on the edge of the roof, with Ren dangling her feet from her seat and Raph cross-legged beside her. The wind blew.

"So you can inject poison through your bites?" Raph added, curious

"Yep, comes in handy, though I need to get into close range with the enemy first. Also, since I'm a _half_-mutant, I can't inject lethal poison, only a few kinds. Care to try them out?" She ended her 'question' with a hiss as she bares her fang-like teeth at Raph.

"I'll pass,"

"My turn to ask now. So, who are you, and, you _are_ a _turtle_, right?" This time, curiosity set in and she surveyed Raph closely with her sharp emerald eyes, leaning forward to get a better view of his face. Everything seemed unusually silent as Raph stared back into Ren's green eyes, their faces only inches apart like yesterday. And it was not until she moved back to her seat that Raph realised that he had been holding his breath the entire time.

"Yep, _definitely_ a turtle,"

"ANYWAY, I'm Raphael," Raph cleared his throat, "Call me Raph,"

"Raphael eh? Nice name," She remarked, staring at the night sky, and it took Raph some time to determine that she did not mean it mockingly.

"Well, Master Splinter, our sensei and master, named us after renaissance artists. I got my name from some 16th-century Italian painter. Or, at least that's what Donnie says,"

"Us?" Ren repeated, "There's more of you?"

"Hey, watch your tone, Young Lady, we ain't manufactured goods or anything, and, erm..." Raph trailed off, realising it was not an entirely wise decision to reveal his family's existence to a stranger he had known for approximately 25 hours, in which during most of that 25 hours he had been unconscious. Ren seemed to get the hint and nodded.

"Look, it's fine if you don't wanna tell me. Though I want you to know that I'm just asking for curiosity's sake, and I'm not gonna spread it around or anything. Though, it's not like I _could_ tell other people even if I wanted to," She pointed out, gesturing to the scales on her face. "But I'm taking it that you have family?"

"Yep, brothers, to be exact, and a father,"

"Lucky you." Ren said quietly, leaving Raph to wonder about _Ren's_ backstory, her origin, and whether he should broach the subject or not.

"Erm-" As Raph finally summoned up the courage to question Ren about her past, it finally dawns on him just how much time had passed ever since he left the sewers, and whether it was almost time for Leo and co to check on him.

"Uh oh, I better get my shell out of here," Raph panicked as he realised how easy he had increased the chances of being caught out while injured by spending time talking to Ren, though he couldn't entirely say he regretted it. Ren caught the urgency in his voice and stood up.

"Alright, gotta run. Erm.. Thanks for everything, I guess, _Ren_," He added her name hastily at the back of his farewell, which seemed to leave a funny feeling on his tongue. It was not until he was about to jump to the next roof did he hear her reply.

"HEY RAPH! SAME TIME, SAME PLACE TOMORROW!" She cupped her hands and yelled, waving goodbye before turning around and disappearing too. Raph turned back and grinned for a while before breaking into another sprint.

"Ren, huh?" He teared down the roofs, his pulse beating quickly.

"Raph, eh?" She felt the wind sting her face once again, her heart pulsing swiftly.

"Not a bad name."


	3. I trust you

**I'm rather late in giving a proper introduction. My name is Tsuru Maiden and I've been really into TMNT this hols. I've brainstormed about fanfics for Leo, Don and Mikey too, but Raph's story came through first. As you can see, this is my first fanfic, so please review , I'm pretty worried bout how this story will be received, but thanks for reading, a lot.**

* * *

It had been 6 days (or nights, depending how you count them) since then, and they had continued meeting for the following days. Ren had developed the habit of sneaking out at night to see Raph. It was risky, and being caught by Master Saki would lead to fatal consequences. But Ren did not want to ask him for permission to leave _every_ night; he would soon grow suspicious. And Master Saki had recently been obsessed with some sort of project, which gave Ren the advantage as he rarely checked up on her now, except for the brief glimpse into her room at night. After that, he would go, and leave her to her period of freedom until the morning, where Ren was expected to head to the training room to spar and hone her combat skills. Ren had grown increasingly tired recently, barely catching a few hours of sleep when she got back before forcing herself to wake in the morning to train, just like what her Master expected her to do.

But to her, it was worth it. Those precious hours where she just talked with Raph... There was never any particular topic to address, just mindless and peaceful conversations, and it made her feel… normal. Talking to him seemed to lift the stress of her shoulders, seemed to make her forget about being a freak, a half-mutant, an outcast. Nothing seemed to matter during that time, and it was always then that she felt a sense of calmness and a faint hint of distinct happiness, as their voices resounded in the quiet night, with the wind caressing their faces. Ren closed her eyes before she changed to another black hoodie and dark green khaki pants; ever since she had started meeting Raph, she had stopped wearing her hood up to cover her appearance. After all, Raph wouldn't gawk at the markings on her face, or flinch at the sight of it, and that was another reason she liked his company. Like the previous nights, Ren dove out of the window and landed on the nearest roof before racing off again, not wanting to admit, but eager for the company of her newfound companion.

* * *

"Hey Ren… Come to think of it… I don't know much about your back story, y'know? And I've already told you mine …" Raph trailed off, cautiously checking Ren's stoic face for any trace of anger or annoyance. Again, they were seated at the edge of the roof, he in a cross-legged position and she with her feet dangling from her seat beside him. They had exchanged varying pieces of information over the past nights, ranging from how well he got along with his brothers (Don: Well. Leo: Depended. Mikey: Mostly during the times when he was not acting outrageously idiotically, which was _very_ rare. Emphasis on the _very_), to things like his favourite colour (Red, because it represented courage, and more importantly, it was cool), his favourite animal (Depended, cat? She had chortled at his answer. When he had asked why, she promptly replied, "I thought it would be turtle,"), and his favourite hobby (Hanging out with his brothers, video games, trashing Mikey, _trashing _Mikey in video games, fighting, winning and some other fun stuff, he had added).

Raph himself had learnt many things about the mysterious orange-haired companion he had recently made, like her keen interest of weapons which vaguely stemmed from her father (she had been somewhat reluctant to elaborate on the subject, and Raph had let it passed).

Her favourite colour was orange, green and black, colours she deemed that represented herself, and her hobbies were fighting (like him), and winning weapons from battles. He had soon learnt of her habit of hunting down weapons and winning them as a form of battle trophies in fights, as well as the cursed day of her mutation, or, as she liked to say (or hiss, to be more accurate), the day she turned into a freak.

She had mutated when she was 11 or 12, and had been unable to advance to high school because of it. That had been the only piece of information she had been willing to relinquish; her life before and after her mutation had been a mystery. But Raph had hoped that today, that mystery would be solved.

"Yea, guess it's time you knew, huh," She commented briefly, sighing, combing her fingers through her short orange hair

"Before my mutation, well, I guess I was normal. As a kid I lived in Japan. Oto-san*, I mean, Dad, was a well-known blacksmith. He forged the best weapons, and I loved watching him craft shapeless metal into beautiful weapons." Ren raised her head and smiled calmly while Raph stared at her silently. "That was how I got my liking and knowledge for weapons. Then he met Oka-san*, Mum, and we moved here." She spread her arms out wide at the emphasis on 'here'.

"I went to school, made good friends, had a.. guy that I liked," her eyes closed at her last word, and her brows crease ever so slightly, which Raph recognised as a sign of incoming headache. His own fists tightened around his sais and he felt a twinge of annoyance for some reason at the mention of a crush, but he kept silent as he waited for her to continue.

"Then it changed. On that day," Ren opened her eyes, and they blazed with anger and hatred as she gripped her sais tightly. "It was Christmas, and we were about to have our dinner, but there was an exlosion of some sort suddenly, smoke everywhere." Her hands, which were on her lap, were shaking now. "Took Dad and Mum a while to react but we made a run for it to the room. Or at least, Mum and I did. Dad stayed to fight off the enemy after locking the room. But Dad lost," Ren closed her eyes again and shook her head agitatedly, her brows creased. Evidently she still struggled to believe that _her_ father, who she referred to as 'Dad' in conversation, the strongest swordsman in all of their village, had lost to the enemy. "After a while, they busted down the door and threw a smoke bomb in, I couldn't see anything. Then the enemy got mum, and before I could even blink or run them through with my sais (I got them when I was 6), she was dead. Stabbed through the heart." Raph opened his mouth, wanting to tell Ren that she could stop already, but Ren, seeing his gesture, shook her head. "I want you to know. I trust you." Ren took a deep breath, feeling slightly calmer.

"The enemy sprayed something into my eyes when I tried to attack with my sais, to blind me. Then they pressed some chloroformed hankerchief to my mouth and the world went black. When I woke, I was in some surgical room. They injected the mutation serum before I could ask anything, though, they seemed to have the habit of doing stuff before I can react," Ren shook her head. "The pain... It was like my cells were rearranging themselves, like something was being ripped out of me. I couldn't stop screaming," Ren tried to force away the haunting memories of her mutation, but they flooded in relentlessly and suddenly, she was back in the cold white room with harsh blaring lights. The mutation serum worked its way through her and her face and arm felt like they were burning; melting. Even her teeth seemed to be reshaping themselves. Her screams echoed, like a desperate animal crying in pain, and she trashed until she broke free of her bonds. Stumbling about with a blind right eye, she dodged away from the white-clad scientists, the enemy that did this to her, and grabbed her sais from the kicked-over table. Then she ran, for goodness knows how long, away from the chasing figures and into the snowing night, until her bare feet were sore and numb from the cold, until she was soaked from head to toe in her black hoodie and long khaki jeans, until she could no longer feel anything...

"Ren.. REN!" Ren broke from her trance in a start, sweat pouring from her brows, her hands poised on her sais as she turned wildly, preparing to strike. But Raph's hands were on her shoulder, and she was not in that hated room on the day she was turned into a freak, but with Raph on the roof somewhere in the middle of New York City. She looked dumbly at Raph, who stared back, and for some reason, she had a sudden urge to pull away his bandana so she could see his face better. "Curiosity kills the cat," she mumbled hazily.

"Huh?" Raph was at a loss of what to say. "Nothing, but, well, I ran and escaped. I was broken, torn, scared, cold and alone. But through some way I managed to track my friends down. I went to Toby for help first," Ren's voice caught a little at the mentioned' "friend's" name, and Raph had an inkling that he was the crush she spoke of briefly earlier. Annoyance washed over him, then confusion. Why was he feeling this way?

"He... He didn't recognise me when I snuck into his room."

"Ya mean his house?"

"Nope, room. On the second floor. I climbed the tree." Ren cleared her throat and continued. "Anyway, when he saw me, the first thing he did was freak out. Then he chased me out screaming insults. I fell out of the second floor window, more broken then ever, called a freak by the boy I loved and grew up with in New York City. I was an idiot thinking he would help. I was a freak," she spat, slamming her fist onto the ground. "I didn't stick around too long, I made a run to the alleyway. Then I found a piece of mirror in the trashbin and saw myself for the first time. My right face was scarred, covered with scales, and so was my left arm. It was... horrifying." Ren retracted her legs and hugged them closer to herself. Raph hesitated before placing his arm over her shoulder. He took it as a good sign that she did not attempt to shake it off. "I wandered around for hours before I collapsed. It was cold and I was hungry, not to mention confused and alone. I was found by a Japanese man, who gave me a home and became my adopted father. He... He was my father and master, but Dad was Dad. Get it? My adopted father wasn't exactly family, there was just something... off about him, but he was the closest thing I had to family after that fiasco." Ren sighed again, and her body seemed to go limp. "I am grateful to him and all that, but... it's different. There, now you have the whole story." Raph was quiet, letting all the information sink in. Ren seemed rather deflated now.

"I... thought telling you all this would help, make me feel lighter. But... I don't really feel all that better now." Ren now straightened one of her legs, keeping the other close to her, watching her black boot dangle aimlessly from her position. Raph racked his brains desperately for a word of comfort, but his mind drew a big blank as he stared at her silently. "Though, I never got to attend high school, hang out with my friends, new and old, and get a boyfriend and go on dates and all that." her emerald eyes held a certain longing now as she turned her gaze to the sky. Raph continued keeping silent, his face falling as he realised how little he could relate to Ren's wish for a normal life. _This_ was already normal to him after all. And he had thought they would get along well, both being mutants and all... It was foolish. _She_ had previously been a human while _he_ had been raised as a mutant since young. Raph felt unexpectedly sad, wondering if that meant that their fragile and strangely-struck friendship that he enjoyed so much would not last.

"But," Ren, unaware of her companion's thoughts, spoke again. "With you... I feel at ease and normal. You became my friend, and I've always been alone, until I met you. Talking to you makes me happy... feels like I got no more worries. So... I guess.. Thanks," Ren grinned at Raph again, showing her pointed teeth (but Raph didn't mind; he thought it suited her), but for some reason, this was different. Maybe it was the fact that he was seeing her smile at such a close range now, and the turtle felt his face heating up slightly. Aside her stranger features and short coarse hair, Ren still did look beautiful, and it was not the beauty one got from makeup nor clothes, but more on the... natural side. Raph flushed an even darker red when he realised what he was thinking about, and confusion, again, muddled his mind, making him unable to understand why he was thinking (or even _thinking_ in the first place) this way. Ren had turned her view back to the sky, and (thankfully) failed to see the turtle's reddened face.

"Hey... You really never got to hang out with your friends and all that?" Raph finally stammered out a question.

"Hm? Yea, I mean, Elementary school was just going over to each other's house. I never really had fun with my friends outside. My parents were more on the old-fashioned side too, so all the more." Ren grunted. Raph hesitated for a while as a plan vaguely formed in his mind. If only... No... But what if...? The turtle frowned, deep in thought. Finally he made his decision. He had nothing to lose after all... right? Before he had anymore time for second-guesses, Raph grabbed Ren's wrist and pulled her up. He was going to have to operate on 'gut feeling'. Then he broke into a run.

"H-hey, where are we going?!" Ren protested.

"You'll know soon enough, trust me!" Raph yelled back. Ren frowned for a second before she sighed. Pulling free from his grasp on her right wrist, she quickly slipped her left hand into Raph's clumsy and rough three-fingered paw, clinging on tightly.

"Lead the way!" She grinned as they ran together, hands intertwined, and Raph could have sworn that his hand never felt warmer, no, not even at the time Mikey tricked him into putting his hand into a pot of boiling hot water by dropping his sais into the water too (which had earned Raph an injured hand, Mikey an injured head, and a 4 hour-length lecture for their foolishness).

* * *

Oto-san- Father in Japanese.

Oka-san- Mother in Japanese.

In the next chapter, Raph takes Ren out on a date, where he finally sees he may have feelings for her. Hope you'll enjoy it.


	4. Being with you

**The longest chapter so far. I apologise if Raph seems rather out of character these few chapters, but I wanted to write it in a way that shows he is completely unaware of his feelings, and doesn't know why he's feeling that way to Ren either since he's never experienced being so close to a teenage girl his age either (at least, I hope not. I got a little annoyed at his closeness to Joi in the Nina Tribunal Arc. Okay, maybe not just a little, but anyway, welcome to Chapter 4 of Belonging.)**

* * *

"I'm sure the others wouldn't mind if I borrowed some of the clothes... they rarely use 'em anyway," Raph mumbled as he ruffled through a box of Casey's old clothes. Raph and Ren were in the garage where the Turtle's Battle Shell and Raph's Shell Cycle were stored. Casey had left a box of his old clothes there for when the Turtles needed a disguise, though, fearing Master Splinter's disapproval, he had left it at the garage. Raph was ever so pleased at his fellow bonehead's decision to do so now, instead of placing it in the sewers where he would have to go back and retrieve them. That would mean revealing Ren's existence, and even if he had her wait outside, Raph wasn't entirely certain that he would be allowed up again if he went back. He didn't exactly know why, but he would like to keep their friendship a secret from his brothers and Master Splinter. Ren was looking around curiously, but with an air of cautiousness, as if worried that she would stumble into an attack. Finally, Raph found what he was looking for.

"There!" he pronounced in triumph as he pulled out a black leather jacket and placed it beside him. He then proceeded to produce a pair of baggy dark blue jeans, which joined the pile, then a black beanie, a pair of sunglasses and two large black boots. Ren surveyed him curiously from the other side of the garage.

"Gimme a moment!" Raph yelled to Ren as he ran to the Shell Cycle, slipping on the leather jacket and jeans on his way (which was a lot harder than it sounded) and cramming the beanie and sunglasses into the jacket's pocket. Pulling on the boots, Raph began to start up the Shell Cycle before slowly riding it out of the garage. Ren followed it silently, her eyes wide but observing as she took in the details of the disguised Raph riding on the Shell Cycle.

"Sweet ride," she commented appreciatively. Raph hid his grin as he basked in her admiration for a moment before gesturing to her to get onto the Shell Cycle. He placed his own helmet over his head and handed Ren the other helmet which Don had made as an "extra".

"You still haven't told me where we're going," Ren reminded Raph, though she got onto the motorbike regardless.

"You'll know soon enough," Raph answered as the motorbike roared to life and tore down the road. Ren instinctively wrapped her slim arms around Raph and for a while, his mind seemed to go completely blank. The orange haired girl laughed in delight as they whizzed down the road, and Raph fought the urge to go faster just to hear her laughter for a little while longer.

* * *

"The _arcade_? You were so mysterious about kidnapping me to the _arcade_?!" Ren repeated incredulously when Raph finally pulled the Shell Cycle over upon reaching their destination. Raph had been full of confidence during the ride; now he wondered if it was a bad choice as he stared up at the half-deserted arcade with a burnt out neon coloured signboard on its door.

"It was the first place I thought of," Raph muttered, determined not to show his anxiety.

"Well, since we're here, let's take a look. Honestly though, I haven't been to an arcade before, at least, not for a long time." Ren pulled of her safety helmet and immediately pulled up her hood while Raph did the same and slipped on the beanie and the sunglasses.

"You look almost human," Ren teased. Raph grunted nonchalantly, though he pondered over her words in silence and wondered whether it counted as a compliment. The inside of the arcade was not as bad as it appeared, with a few people playing racing games and others participating in shooting ones. But it was not exactly "bustling with life" either. Raph hesitated, debating whether to abandon his "plan", but Ren pushed past him to explore about, her emerald eyes sparkling with curiosity. She seemed like a curious child as she looked around, dredging up long forgotten memories from her younger years in New York City- when her life had been normal. Her eyes darkened and, sensing sadness, Raph hastily grabbed her hand and steered her attention to the first game he saw- a dancing rhythm game.

"Give it a try," Raph coaxed, hoping it would distract Ren from remembering her past and mourning it.

"A dancing game? SHELL NO!" Ren growled, giving Raph a full benefit of her pointed teeth.

"What's wrong? Scared?" Raph teased, hoping she would take the bait like he always did when his brothers pulled the same trick.

It worked.

"No I'm not! I'll do it." Ren snarled as she marched towards the game, her mouth set in a grim line, as if preparing for war. Raph sniggered and Ren turned, giving him a glare that could freeze fire- the signal that he should avoid provoking her anymore. Ren reached into her pocket (careful not to display her sais, which she kept hidden underneath her hoodie) and pulled out a few old coins, which she slotted into the machine. Instantly, it crackled into life, and music blasted from the speakers. Ren looked down at the platform she was standing on. There were four tiles with bright pink and blue arrows, each facing north, south, east or west. She would probably have to match the timing she stepped on the arrows to when it appeared on the large screen and corresponded with their silhouette. The starting was easy as arrows streamed across the screen in an almost lazy fashion. Ren concentrated and stepped on the tiles at the exact moment they met their silhouettes also displayed on the screen, earning her several perfect scores as well as more confidence. Then the music picked up speed, and Ren, too, sensing the increase of speed, quickened her senses and pace to match the blasting music.

Her form was perfect as she jumped in beat to the music, even managing three tiles at one point by jumping and landing in a split position on the platform, with one hand on the tile in front of her and the other hand positioned behind her back to emphasise the sheer ease of which she did it. As she won level after level, more and more people gathered to witness the orange haired beauty's swift and graceful dance (being rather able to tell her gender after seeing her fluid movements for a while) and soon, the arcade was packed with people, most of them cheering on her. Raph grinned as he looked at Ren, positioning himself a little way from the crowd before leaning against a pillar. She smiled happily, her face flushed with exertion and for a while, Raph felt a smile spread over his face as he registered how beautiful she looked. Then he felt confusion. Why was he even feeling this way? Any physical contact with her or a close up view of her face led him to a heart that beat too fast and the inability to think. Was he ill? Raph frowned and absent-mindedly raised his hand to his forehead.

"What's wrong? Not feeling well?" Ren asked in concern, pantng slightly, suddenly materialising in front of the turtle. The game had ended after she finished the final round (with a perfect score she might like to add), and most people had already cleared away from the scene. She placed a slim hand on Raph's forehead and the turtle felt his face burn an even brighter red.

"You're burning!" she exclaimed as she prepared to lean forward and place her forehead on Raph's to check his temperature.

"I-I'm fine!" Raph spluttered, knowing it was more than he could take having Ren at such a close proximity to him. He was not used to being unsure or uncertain of himself and he hated it. He was Raphael; the aggressive and fearless turtle, so, why was he succumbing to such foreign feelings?

"Okay…" Ren raised her hands up in a mock surrender position. "I found this game that you would probably be interested in," Ren grinned excitedly as she grabbed Raph's hand and pulled him away. Raph winced as he felt his mind go blank again, though he couldn't say he didn't like the feeling of her hand in his…

"Here!" The girl announced in triumph as she reached the designated game- a physical fighting action one. The player had to attach a helmet of sorts to his or her head, and their movements would be sensed by the machine. Injuries, however, would be toned down, and if the player was hit, he or she would feel a slight numbing sensation instead. However, if they receive too many hits, their health points would run out and the player would lose. Raph eyed the machine doubtfully, though his expression brightened when Ren introduced it as a fighting game.

"Scared?"

"You wish," Raph strode over to the game and placed on the helmet as Ren handed him a few coins, which he clumsily slotted in. The screen burst into life and a wide array of characters appeared- avatars for him to choose. Raph went through them quickly before settling on Hamato Yoshi.

"He was my sensei's sensei," he explained to Ren. The first round was easy, though it Raph some time to get use to the game. As the enemy- a martial arts master avatar controlled by the computer charged forward, Raph easily dodged sideways and side kicked, knocking him down. As he got up and lunged at Raph again, Raph squatted down and positioned himself slightly before unleashing a strong uppercut that immediately earned him his victory. The opponent had never stood a chance in the first place.

"That was my move!" Ren protested in a slightly accusatory tone as she watched the turtle pull off the same uppercut she had executed in their second battle days before.

"So? Sue me," Raph retorted mockingly, though his voice held a teasing tone that meant no harm. Ren shook her head in exasperation but could not help grinning. Raph turned his attention back to the game, though not before he felt a wave of happiness and contentment wash over at having made his orange haired companion happy again. But before he could dwell on it anymore, the word 'challenge' appeared on the game machine's screen in red bold letters.

"A challenger? Bring it on!" Raph announced cockily. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ren shake her head with a sigh, though she continued playing an audience to his fight. This round was not as easy as Raph's previous overly one-sided match with the computerised player, and the challenger was no amateur, Raph realised soon enough. But neither was he a _pro_ either that had been trained by a ninjutsu art master who also happened to be a rat. Raph dodged another punch from the challenger, who seemed to rely heavily on brute force to bring the enemy down. Acting fast, Raph swiftly moved to the back of the challenger and punched him several times before squatting down and doing a sweeping kick, which knocked the challenger over. The challenger got up with surprising speed and threw a torrent of punches down at Raph, trying to quell the latter with brute force. But Raph averted all of his strikes and dodged sideways again before returning a swifter procession of punches and kicks that finally brought the opponent down to his knees. The turtle punched his arms up into the air in triumph.

"I came, I saw, and I kicked butt!" he crowed. Ren walked forward to congratulate the turtle (well, at least in her own way, which involved a nonchalant nod as a sign acknowledgment plus an off-hand compliment followed by the line "I can do better"), but just as she prepared to do so, another person suddenly intercepted her.

"You midget! HOW DARE YOU DEFY ME!" a deep voice bellowed, belonging to a tall and large man with a blue Mohawk and a purple dragon's tattoo engraved on his bulging left arm. "I have held that record for a long time, and I'm not about to let some insolent newcomer destroy it!" The large gangster leered down at Raph, who eyed him in dislike.

"Dragons! Tear them apart! No one messes with the Legendary Lee!" The bulging gorilla, Lee, screamed in rage. Immediately, several people stood up- the purple dragon members who had followed Lee, and prepared to attack. Raph cast a glance at Ren, who seemed to be looking at the crowd in an almost bored way. Then her face broke into her trademark grin and she braced herself for battle.

"Wanna see who gets to take out more purple doofuses? I need some more exercise."

"You're on!" Together, the two charged in and the purple dragons swarmed in as well, confident of an easy fight. But they were soon proven wrong as both Raph and Ren ducked and dodged their clumsy blows before striking out in a single fluid motion, easily putting out most of the people from the fight. But as Raph busied himself with four purple dragons throwing punches at him, another one snuck up behind him, a long silver chain in his hand.

"Behind you!" Ren sprinted towards the unaware turtle and jumped.

"DUCK!" she screamed, and as Raph obeyed and squatted down, Ren unleashed one of her sais and cut through the metal chain with ease. The remaining purple dragons, stunned and scared, turned and bailed swiftly. Many others followed suit when they realised the current situation at hand and soon, only Lee was left.

"You-" Lee seemed to swell ominously, but before he could charge like an angry bull, Ren punched his face in an uppercut as she jumped. Upon landing, she pivoted on her left foot and swung her right foot in a side kick, which pushed Lee back. Raph took over and swung his fists several times at Lee's chest. When he staggered back into a machine, Raph did the finishing blow and jumped, swinging his foot towards Lee's face and knocking him off his feet. As the two panted and stopped, Lee stared at them groggily, his jaw hanging open.

"Y-you two took out my entire clan completely! That's not- that's not even human!" he screamed.

"Whaddya know? Gorilla here is right. We aren't human," Ren pulled down her hood and Raph followed with his borrowed shades and beanie. Lee stared for another moment before collapsing in a disgruntled heap, having fainted from the shock. Sirens wailed into the night as police cars pulled into the scene, which was their cue to leave. Without a word, Raph and Ren turned and fled silently through the back door, leaving not the slightest trace that they had been there before.

* * *

"That was fun," Ren laughed as she stretched her arms into the air. Back at the same rooftop, the earlier adrenaline had worn off and Raph felt more tired. Ren seemed to have felt the same too as they sat together on the roof with a little less distance between them, contenting herself with staring at the scenery instead of arguing with Raph.

"Yea, it was." Raph agreed softly, smiling and thinking back about the adventure they had at the arcade.

"I feel kinda bad trashing the arcade's reputation though, even less people would want to go there now after such a big fight broke out," Ren admitted slightly guiltily.

"Nah, Casey told me nobody goes there cos those purple dragons keep messing the place up. More people would go to the arcade now since I don't think the purple doofuses would be going back anytime soon," Raph chortled. Ren smiled in response, her last regret settled. They sat in comfortable silence for a while.

"Hey, Ren, what's your impression of me?" Raph blurted out, curious. The question had lingered in his mind for some time now, and while he was eager to know the answer, he was also somewhat uneasy of it- not that he intended to show it though. He merely stared at his feet in silence.

"Hn," The sound she hummed when she was thinking, Raph immediately registered in his head. Then his eyes widened when the fact that he had nearly all of Ren's habits and quirks memorised over the period of the last six nights sunk in. That was the extent of which he knew her. It left a funny sort of contentment in his chest.

"Even though you always act and try to talk tough, you're actually pretty kind and loving deep down. You care a lot about your brothers and sensei, even though you may seem to have little regard or respect for them at many times. You feel overshadowed by your oldest brother, Leonardo or Leo, but you still love him, and you worry that he pins too much responsibilities on himself and overly blames himself at times. And while you have an antagonistic relationship with the youngest brother you call Mikey, it's still obvious you care for him as a younger brother. You have a pretty soft spot for cats, and you hate bugs, a lot. Your favourite colour is red, cos' it's cool and courageous , and you like hanging out with your brothers, playing video games, winning Mikey in video games, fighting and winning. You're, well, fun and good company. While you seem so tough and cold, it's partially to hide your softer personality inside cos you're afraid you'll get hurt. Your love for your brothers and father is boundless; you'd do anything to keep them, all of you, safe and happy as a family, along with your human friends, Casey and April. You've got a dangerous temper, but you're able to control it over time now and you like seeming cool and full of confidence, but even _you_ still have some insecurities you keep to yourself. I like spending time with you, and you're a pretty good sai-user. There, done." Ren finally finished.

Raph stared at Ren in astonishment, his mouth gaping slightly open, stunned that she had remembered just about _every_ single piece of information they had exchanged over the previous 6 days/nights. Not that he minded, though. Then he hastily retracted his jaw.

"The last 6 days, or nights, almost a week, were very important to me. That's why I remember everything," Ren seemed to read her companion's mind this time round and answered.

"Though, you missed out one part on my list of hobbies," Raph teased, hiding his earlier surprise. Ren looked taken aback and frowned, racking her brains for any information she had forgotten. Her grip on her sais tightened with concentration for a while, until she finally sighed and slackened her grip; a sign that she gave in.

"I'm out, what is it?"

Raph swallowed. "Being with you," and suddenly, the distance between them, or rather, the current _lack_ of distance between them seemed more prominent, and their faces were close enough for him to peer into her emerald eyes again, which now showed surprise. Then the distance seemed to be gradually reduced as they instinctively leaned close to one another. Ren's eyes seemed to start closing and Raph felt his heart almost stop beating all together as he wondered if this was the 'fated kiss' he had seen in so many movies and some of Mikey's comic books. He tried to think what a normal human- Scratch that, a normal _teenage mutant ninja turtle_, or teenager at the very least, would do, but yet again, his mind drew a big blank and he couldn't concentrate, much less think. So he followed his instincts, operated on 'gut feeling' again and their faces moved even closer when-

"_Soooooooooooo_, are we interrupting anything?"

"_This_ is where you've been disappearing to all this time?"

"Rapael, you have A LOT of explaining to do."

Raph and Ren broke apart, and Raph groaned loudly at the sight that awaited him.

"Aw shell." There was Leo's stern face, Don's curious face and worst of all, Mikey's "I'm-never-gonna-let-you-forget-this-moment-for-as-long-as-I-live" face.

Leo was right, he was in for a lot of explaining to do.


	5. Follow your Heart

**This chapter may not be as good as the previous ones, and has a considerably less serious tone. It depicts some of the misadventures (can I call them that? Or experiences, in any case) that Ren and the turtles get into, as Ren slowly becomes 'part of them'. Belonging may be almost complete, but before I dream of the end, here is Chapter 5. Once again, thank you for reading and please review. Also, thank you to Micky D12-san, the person who truly made my day when I was depressed from the lack of attention my story received, because of the encouraging words he/she wrote in the review. Arigato Gozaimasu!**

* * *

It had taken 15 hours for Raph to settle the whole matter, in which 4 hours was spent on Master Splinter's lecture, and another 4 hours to explain everything that had happened until now from the very start. Then there was 1 hour for Ren to explain her origins (in rather vague terms, not wishing to relive the painful past again) and another 2 hours where Don, Mikey and Leo had asked her all sorts of questions (Mikey wanted to know how Ren had kicked Raph's butt, and on how many occasions, Don wanted to know more about her mutation, though he was careful not to overdo the questioning while Leo was both curious and suspicious of anything going on between both Raph and Ren, which they had vehemently denied). For the remaining time, 2 hours was spent being teased relentlessly by Don and Mikey (and occasionally Leo) and the remaining 2 hours, chasing after Don, Mikey (and Leo, when the leader participated).

Master Splinter had originally been rather suspicious about Ren, though after learning of her past, he had not pressed on for any more information and knew, deep down in his heart that she was not a threat to his sons or himself, being an outcast on her own as well. After the whole incident, Ren had rushed home, and the four turtles and Master Splinter had decided to call it a night and retired into their rooms. Left alone, Raph thought back about the revelation of his night escapades and felt both relief- that his secret was out and he no longer had to sneak about when leaving at night, as well as a slight tinge of disappointment- that he could no longer keep Ren for himself and now had to share her with his brothers. Then he had felt shame and anger at having almost likened Ren to an object of possession. Ren was Ren, strong, stubborn and wilful but deep down inside, kind and caring too, not some prized trophy for someone to hold on to.

It had been 5 days after Ren's encounter with his family, and she soon became part of them as if she always had been from the start, sparring with Casey, talking to April and Don, competing with Mikey in video games and meditating with both Master Splinter and Leo. But during her visits at night, Ren still reserved a period of time to sit on the roof again chatting with Raph, which eventually morphed into part of the latter's schedule and everyday life. Again, he had been relieved, having feared that in the company of the others, she would soon forget him. He had mentioned it before when they were chatting on the roofs at night.

"Hey Ren… if you like spending time with the others so much… Then why'd ya still waste part of your time with me here on the roof?"

"Cos spending time with all of you and spending time with just you is different. I like both of it a lot, but spending time with you alone is just… Special." Ren had answered him with her eyes closed in contentment. Raph did not address the situation any further, satisfied with the answer.

* * *

"It's been ages since we got to ride our rides!" Mikey whined as he settled himself on the couch.

"Rides?" Ren repeated. Leo nodded his head. "That's what we call them, at least. Our sports equipment. Mikey rides the skateboard, I ride the scooter, Donnie rides the bicycle and Raph uses roller-skates. Last time there was a blackout on the topside, we had a shell of a time riding anywhere we liked," Leo laughed.

"We don't do that anymore though, too dangerous. Besides, we had been pretty busy since then," Don added.

'Yea, busy kicking shell!" Mikey boasted. Ren let the information sink in and her brows creased slightly. "Hm," she murmured briefly. Again, she was deep in thought. "I got it!" Ren shouted suddenly, her eyes lighting up.

"Got what? That the fact that the first time you kicked my shell was by pure luck?" Raph teased. Ren glared at him, "In your dreams, Shell-for-brains. I know where you guys can ride your bikes, scooters and all that. It's an abandoned warehouse some distance away from here. I found it when I was wandering around at night last month." Ren explained at top speed, excited. Don and Raph were nodding their heads slowly as Ren elaborated more on the warehouse, while Mikey was already bouncing up and down on the couch, wanting to go to the said destination immediately. Leo, however, was frowning, weighing the chances of whether it would be fine to use the abandoned warehouse or not.

"One way to find out if going there is a good choice," The leader finally decided. He looked up and saw four pairs of eyes staring back at him, each hopeful and curious of his consent.

"Let's take a look. Now."

* * *

"Sweet…" Mikey whispered in awe as he looked at the vast space the warehouse provided. The turtles and Ren were looking into the glass windows at the top of the warehouse, which covered part of where the roof should be. It was wide and spacious, though a touch bit eerie too, Raph thought. Though, as its name suggested, it was filled with some empty crates and other broken parts of machinery.

"If it's so spacious though, why doesn't anyone use it?" Don questioned Ren.

"Cos' there are rumors of ghosts being here. Ghosts," Ren repeated in a snicker, shaking her head as if to laugh at the people who believed such ludicrous tales. Mikey gulped and stepped back from the window, starting to have second thoughts about the warehouse. Raph, seeing this, quietly snuck behind his brother.

"Boo."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Mikey screamed at a high-pitched voice as he pulled out his nun-chucks and flailed them about, while the rest laughed at his reaction. It took Mikey half a minute to realize it was merely another one of Raph's antics, prompting the former to chase the latter, hurling insults all the way. Leo sighed, turning his attention away from the scuffling duo. "I'm not sure Master Splinter would allow this though…" he muttered with his arms crossed.

"He might if you actually told him what and where you would be doing and going!" The said rat scolded as he stood behind Leo, Don and Ren, a stern expression on his face. At the same moment, Mikey and Raph's chase led back to where their brothers and Ren were standing, joining in their surprise at the arrival of their father and mentor.

"Master Splinter!" The turtles chorused. "We wanted to see if the abandoned warehouse Ren mentioned would be ideal for us to exercise with our 'rides'." Leo explained. Master Splinter nodded briefly and looked around.

"Very well, since it is abandoned. But I have tasks for you to do tonight, You can come back here tomorrow night, but if you do not do them properly and seriously, I will cancel the permission I have given you!" Master Splinter commanded strictly. The turtles gulped and nodded their consent as they followed Master Splinter home. Ren trailed behind, thinking. Her eyes were slightly unfocused, and Raph frowned when he saw it; Ren had stopped her habit of spacing out nowadays. She only did it when she had too much on her mind, or when she felt lonely (usually the latter), in which, in the company of her newfound friends that were almost family, that habit had almost completely faded.

"Ren, what's wrong?" Raph asked softly in concern, hoping his brothers would not catch the care he held in his voice. She snapped back into focus.

"Nothing, just thinking. Master Splinter cares about all of you a lot doesn't he," Ren commented, her eyes softening, though there was a slight trace of envy in her tone. From what she had told Raph, the turtle in red had pretty much gathered while her adopted father cared for her, he didn't quite show it. And then there was Master Splinter, strict and stern but loving towards his sons all the same. Raph felt a sudden rush of affection towards his father and mentor, though he also tried to think of subjects that would steer Ren away from the negative topic.

"O yea, how do you suggest I keep up with you guys tomorrow? I don't own any sports equipment capable of that," Ren shook her head. Don, who had come to urge the duo to walk faster under Master Splinter's orders heard this.

"That's okay, I can lend you a ride on my bike," Don offered. Ren's eyes brightened. "Really? Thanks!" she grinned, displaying her pointed teeth, and Raph felt strange, seeing her grin in the same manner she always did to him when they were chatting on the roof, but this time towards Don. Then he had a sudden vision of Don and Ren sharing a bike, with Ren's arms wrapped around the former's torso, moving just a fraction closer at every available moment until her slim body was pressing against his shell, sharing an intimate moment…

"NO!" Raph burst out. Ren and Don stared at him. Raph furiously backpedalled. "I mean, Er, I have an extra pair of skates I can lend to her. So, er, there's no need for you to share your bike with her, Donnie,"

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Ren demanded.

"I-I didn't think of it," Raph grunted, which was actually quite true.

"Well, that's settled then," Don said, though he eyed Raph strangely for a while before the three of them raced off in Master Splinter, Leo and Mikey's direction to catch up with the crew. Raph felt a faint sense of satisfaction at having solved the problem.

Then came the current problem.

How the shell was he going to get a pair of skates for Ren?

* * *

"Hey Casey… Got a moment?" Raph mumbled nervously in the garage. It was morning, and Raph had made the excuse of checking up on his Shell Cycle with Casey today, before practically dragging the hockey-obsessed bonehead away to the garage.

"You drag me all 'da way up here for no apparent reason and now you ask me if I have a moment?" Casey screeched in a disbelieving tone.

"Well sorry about that. Thing is, I need to get something from the topside, so... Do you have any cash?" He felt low, actually borrowing money from Casey to cover up the grave he dug himself. Honestly, Raph didn't quite know how much a pair of skates were worth, but he knew it wouldn't be cheap. And it was not like Casey was particularly well-off either. He had tried asking April, but she didn't have any roller skates or any other sports equipment able to fulfill the job, having given them away to her cousin Robyn for the charity.

"What do you need to buy?" Casey asked suspiciously as he got out his wallet. Raph felt the lump in his throat growing; he would have almost felt better if Casey had refused. Casey caught sight of his friend's depressed face and felt concern.

"Hey, you didn't get in'ta any trouble with the Purple Dragon's by borrowing money from them did you?"

"SHELL NO!" Raph answered, mortified. "It's just that…" In a few minutes, Casey knew the whole tale. At first, he stared at Raph in complete and utter shock. Then he had started guffawing loudly, and it took Raph every single shred of self-control not to bash his fellow bonehead up at that point of time.

"Look, if you're gonna laugh anymore, I will-!" .

"S-sorry. Just ain't used ta seeing you act like that. But tell you what, a friend o' mine is having a big discount in sports equipment, and I just got a raise _and_ a bonus from my boss recently-" At those words, it was Raph's turn look up at Casey suspiciously. "What? Who knew those good impression and manners stuff April told me would actually get the boss ta like me? Anyway, my friend's store is just two streets away from here, take the money and go choose a decent pair for your girlfriend. Get her something nice too."

"She's not my girl-!" Raph protested before Casey interrupted him.

"One more thing, Raph"

"What?"

"You really should learn to follow your heart,"

Then Casey was gone, leaving Raph to stare at his retreating back in confusion, both wondering about his words, and whether he should thank or punch the bonehead when he saw him again.

* * *

Clad in a long hooded coat, sunglasses and scarf, Raph looked around for the store Casey had informed him about. There was an unimpressive small store with the words "Sports Gear" printed in green block letters on top of the entrance. Hesitating slightly, Raph crossed the road and stepped into the store. It was small, that was his first impression, but it was neat. The person behind the casher was a man in his 30s, with messy black hair and slight stubble.

"How can I help you?" he asked pleasantly. Raph cleared his throat. "Casey, Casey said-"

"Ah wait, you are Casey's friend? He told me a friend of his wanted to look at a pair of skates for his girlfriend," the man asked in a cheerful tone. Had his appearance not be hid behind the scarf and long coat, Raph's mouth would have hung comically down before gritting together again in anger. But before he could deny Ren being his girlfriend, the man had disappeared behind the storage room, and Raph silently vowed to first _thank_ the dark-haired bonehead later, then punch him. Twice. One for laughing at him, the other for teasing him. Before he could come up with any other more severe punishments, the man came back with a catalogue of skates, which he handed to Raph.

"These are popular with girls," he commented as he flipped to a certain page. Skates, ranging from bright pink and green to black and purple, were displayed across the page. Raph frowned (though it remained unnoticed beneath the red scarf he wore) and flipped the catalogue to another page. It went on like this for a while; they were either too girly or too… un-Ren-like. Then he saw it. A pair of black skates with green markings that resembled trailing wisps of fire. Ren's favorite color was green, black and orange, he recalled. This would do.

"This. Please," he added on the last words for a better measure, his voice coming out slightly muffled.

"This?" The man looked surprise, "It is unusual for girls to-"

"She's different." The retort came out before he could stop himself. Surprise crossed the man's face, then an understanding smile. He went back into the storage room and produced a pair of black and green skates, which he placed in a large box. Raph forked over the needed amount, which, luckily, was not much due to the discount the store was having, and left in a hurry, hoping that his lie (Raph preferred calling it an 'excuse') on spending time fixing the Shell Cycle would not be discovered. Then he thought about the pair of skates. He would tell Ren he had found it, surprisingly clean and new, and tell her to keep it. She would be surprised at first, then give a cautious 'really?', as if wary that his offer might be a prank. He would nod and smirk, and her face would break into a smile, completely different from its earlier mask of alertness, the same trademark grin she always showed when she was happy, with her strange (he had started finding it normal now; Ren was Ren with it) slightly pointed teeth/fangs in full view…

"WOAH!" Raph stumbled into a table. What was a table doing in the middle of the street? Raph cursed under his breath.

"Watch it, Youngster!" A voice called out, which unmistakably belonged to an old lady. A street vendor, Raph realised. The table was covered with small trinkets and charms. Raph mumbled a brief apology as he edged away slowly, careful not to wreak anymore havoc. Then he saw a pair of miniature sais on the corner of the table. Despite the voice nagging at him to hurry home before anyone found out he was missing, Raph clumsily picked them up, and realised they were attached to a chain bracelet. The old lady saw him eyeing it.

"From Japan. Came in a pair. Weird sort of trinket," she grunted, handing him the second bracelet. Raph examined both of it for a while. It was intricately crafted, and resembled a _real _sai to an almost unrealistic degree; whoever made it must have been extremely skilled in metal crafting.

"Hey Youngster, done looking? If you want it, I'll give you a cheap price, not many Americans wants stuff like this," The old lady muttered.

"Get her something nice too." Casey's annoying voice echoed in Raph's head. Nodding briefly, he extracted the exact amount and gave it wordlessly to the old lady, who wrapped up the two bracelets, each with a pair of miniature sai charms attached to it, and passed the two small deftly-wrapped packages to the turtle. The old lady had a thoughtful look on her face now, before she looked around furtively and gestured for Raph to bend down to her height.

"Y'know, there was a legend that came with 'em. It was crafted by a master blacksmith in Japan, who said that two close people who wear the two chain bracelets, will possess a linked heart. But first, they must have forged a strong bond, just like the steel used to craft the two pair of charms. It's special. Really special. Take care of it, Boy."

* * *

Next Chapter: The turtles, Ren, Master Splinter, Casey and April have fun, but trouble soon arises when the mob, who have decided to use the warehouse for illegal activities, arrives, and havoc soon breaks. As a fierce fight ensues, one of the eight gets injured, an injury that he/she may never recover from...


	6. Thank you

**Sorry for the late update this time round , I got a little lazy. I have uploaded the same story under a different name in another TMNT Fanfiction archive, entitled "A Place to Belong", to see which of the two archives would be more active since I was initially surprised that there were two of them. Please please please please read and review, and welcome to Chapter 6 of Belonging!**

* * *

After the time-consuming and tiring chores Master Splinter had set them, it was finally _the_ day. Or at least, that was how Mikey put it, in between jumping around and annoying his brothers. Raph had spent much time fiddling with the two small paper bags, each containing a chain bracelet with a pair of delicate sai charms strung across it. He had pondered on how to give it to Ren, but had come up empty-handed. He would have to operate on his instincts, or "gut-feeling", as he called it, again.

"Not that it did much good the last time," Raph recalled, remembering about the time his brothers had discovered him and Ren on the roof, where they had so nearly _kissed. _As much as he did not want to admit it, he had not dared to approach the topic of that experience, and Ren showed no sign of having gone through or even _remembering_ it. Of course, he had denied it when interrogated by his brothers, over and over again (Mikey had been the most persistent; even after that, he had continued making heart signs with his hands behind Ren when she was not looking in order to annoy Raph- and to prove that he _had_ been staring at Ren, despite his denial). They had mostly dropped the subject (again, with the exception of Mikey) though Leo seemed somewhat suspicious at times.

Raph sighed, still not quite clear why he was feeling this way. He had been cracking his head about the issue- his "irregularities" around Ren, and he did not entirely want to approach anyone about the situation. He was… embarrassed. Ashamed to be so unsure of himself; insecure. But Raph cleared those thoughts away. Tonight was the time to enjoy and have fun; to skate away his problems and stress. The Purple Dragons had been lying low recently, and he needed exercise. Raph smirked as he picked up his sais and twirled one of them around with his finger, feeling better with his headache clearing up. Now he shifted his thoughts to Ren (something that was quite common recently), imagining her initial surprise, then wariness, followed by happiness when she realised she could keep the skates. She would be happy, and maybe, just maybe, he'd be able to bring up the subject of the kiss without receiving an immediate rejection…

"Ready?"

"WOAH!" Startled, Raph, who had been sitting cross-legged on the floor with his eyes closed at that point of time, jumped up from his position and assumed a battling stance. Ren stared at him in slight amusement.

"You err… Surprised me," Raph mumbled, keeping the sais he had drawn out back into is belt. The orange haired teenager was still dressed in the same black hoodie and green khaki pants, and Raph was starting to wonder just how many sets of the same outfit she had in her possession.

"I can tell," was her dry reply, but instantly, she smiled, obviously excited about the trip. "So, ready?" She asked eagerly, pulling out and juggling her sais with little effort.

"Why're you so pumped for this though?"

"Well, I haven't been much help to you guys since I came here. I was just… there, taking up your time and space. But now, even though it's a small thing, I get to contribute," Ren said, throwing both sais up into the air and catching them with ease once again, finally returning them to her belt.

"It doesn't matter if you aren't much help or anything- I mean, look at Mikey, he's more trouble than help. You're family, part of us; it doesn't matter whether you're useful or not." The words were out of his mouth before he knew it, but they were true. It didn't matter whether she what she; she was part of them, a family member. Ren seemed slightly taken aback by his sudden serious words, but she smiled either way.

"Thanks. That helped, Raphael" and his heart seemed to jolt a little when she used his full name. Trying to distract himself, Raph pulled out the box containing the pair of skates he had gotten her and removed its lid.

"Woah," Ren whispered as she bent down to take a look at the skates. Black and green- two of her favorite colours, it dawned on her. Breathlessly, she traced the green patterns that resembled trailing wisps of fire so much, and smiled again.

"You sure seem impressed," Raph was happy, though a little surprised by how much awe Ren had displayed at the skates. While her description of her current life was brief, he had been under the impression that her adopted father was _anything_ but poor- owning a large house, enabling Ren to travel around and start her own collection of weapons.

"Well, Father never showed much interest in all this modern stuff. I don't see him much in the first place, especially now. He's been busy with some project all the time. I usually just stick in the training room and train or, if I'm lucky, stay in the room and sleep. I haven't gotten much sleep these days, hanging out with you guys at night and sleeping a few hours in the morning- Shell, I'm turning nocturnal," Ren chuckled. However, she soon realised that she had just given Raph more information about her life under her adopted father's rule in the few sentences she had told him- far more than she had ever let him on. To cover up for the brief lapse, she hastily turned her attention back to the skates.

"They seem new though." Ren squinted her eyes and examined the skates even further. "Really new. Where did you find them? I don't think people would just throw brand new skates like these away, not that I had a lot of contact with them before." Raph gulped and his eyes darted around nervously, like the times he had done something wrong or lied (usually with Mikey as his partner-in-crime) and he tried to avert the questions.

"I can't remember, but you can keep 'em. I've got my own trusty skates right here anyway,"

"Really? You're joking aren't you?" As he had predicted, her first expression was of surprise, then cautiousness, convinced of it being a trick. Raph couldn't help it- he laughed.

"Ah HA! It _is_ a prank," Ren announced in triumph, pointing one of her sais at Raph accusatorially.

"Nah, it ain't. I have no use of 'em so you can keep it. I was just laughing at how predictable your reaction is." Raph snickered.

"Really?" Ren repeated, though she grinned immediately at the revelation that it was not a joke. "Thanks!" She picked up the skates and turned to leave, hearing Leo calling her from his room.

"W-wait!" Raph stammered slightly in nervousness, reaching for the two small packages he had hidden earlier. Taking a deep breath, he handed one of them to Ren.

"What's this?" The girl mused, bending down to place the pair of black and green skates on the ground before opening the petite bag. She gasped, (then quickly smothered it, not wanting it to be deemed as a sign of weakness) holding the bracelet up by two fingers and staring at the intricate sai charms that dangled on the chain.

"I-I found this. Two of 'em. One for me and one for you," Raph babbled. Ren was silent, still looking at the bracelet she held. Raph stopped his stream of words, anxiously checking her face for any reaction.

"It's beautiful," Ren whispered, mesmerised by the realistic sai charms, and Raph mentally heaved a sigh of relief when he realised her silence was merely a sign that her interest (she refused to let him refer to it as an obsession) in weapons was acting up again.

"So I take it that you like it?" His voice was both hopeful and held just a slight trace of nervousness. But Ren, in her trance-like state, did not catch the anxiety in Raph's question.

"I love it. It's so realistic and… delicate. It's like a real weapon," She still seemed enthralled, but when Leo called her name again from the floor below, she snapped out of it with a shake of her head.

"I gotta go," she said hastily, preparing to leave. But as she picked up her skates again, she tilted her head and surveyed Raph for a while, a curious and thoughtful expression on her face.

"What?" Raph demanded, unused to her suddenly thoughtful demeanor. Ren gestured towards Raph- for him to move forward, and he did so.

"Now wha-" Raph continued, but he was soon cut off as Ren leaned towards him and gave him a swift peck on his cheek.

"Thank you," With those words, she was gone, turning and running to the entrance of his room before jumping down to answer Leo.

Raph stared after her dumbly, his eyes wide and his mouth open, right hand still hovering on where she had kissed him- as if unsure whether to touch it or not.

* * *

"WOOHOO!" Mikey hollered as he overtook Don with his skateboard. April and Master Splinter, seated on one of the larger crates looked on as the turtles, Ren and Casey sped around the large warehouse. Ren had managed to master control of the skates within a few minutes (much to Raph's initial annoyance, seeing as he could only skate properly after 5 lessons from Leo and Master Splinter) and she was soon skating around at full speed, even managing to pull out a few tricks as she did so, her short orange hair rippling in the wind. They had not spoken since he had given her the skates, (and since she had- never mind) but Raph couldn't help feeling _just_ a bit hopeful- if she had kissed (he cringed a little at the word) him out of her own will, perhaps she was not thinking of rejection at the most immediate moment?

"Wanna race?" Ren challenged as she fell in step with Raph, grinning. The turtle blinked, snapped out from his thoughts. "You're wearing the bracelet," He pointed out, eyeing the silver chain strapped onto her right wrist. He had contemplated on wearing his, unsure that Ren would do the same and a little apprehensive of his brother's noticing it if both of them were to wear it. Ren nodded.

"Of course. I like it, it's a pair isn't it? Where's yours?" She asked. Raph pulled out the still wrapped package (which he had stowed in his belt earlier) and handed it wordlessly to her. Ren emptied the bracelet onto her palm and strung it across his wrist, over the brown wristband he wore, firmly clicking the metal clasps in place.

"There, now both of us have one," Ren grinned. Raph raised his hand up sightly and looked at the two sai charms dangling from the chain. He looked back at Ren, who was now looking around, frowning slightly, remembering her earlier challenge.

"You're on!" Together, the duo changed course- spinning around to face the other end of the warehouse, with the first mutant turtle or half snake mutant reaching it being the winner. Though, just as Raph succeeded in surpassing Ren in terms of speed, the female sai-user suddenly lunged out with her fist and knocked him aside; overtaking him in the process.

"Hey, that's cheating!" Raph complained as he struggled to regain his speed and catch up with Ren.

"Who said you can't interrupt your opponent?" Ren snorted. Raph squatted down and did a sweeping kick, but Ren jumped to avoid it. Soon, they were neck to neck, furiously skating to reach the finishing point and occasionally exchanging blows. Finally, they skidded into a stop at the end point, bending down to catch their breaths. By this time, Leo had stopped momentarily to survey the race, waiting for them at the finishing point.

"Who… won?" Raph croaked, panting.

"Both of you," Leo grinned. He offered a hand to Ren, who took it and straightened herself. "Good racing," The turtle in blue complimented, rather impressed by the feat of which she mastered the use of her newly acquired skates. Ren smiled at his words

"Can you do any tricks on your scooter?" Her eyes seemed to brighten with curiosity and interest at the question. To answer her, Leo swiftly balanced himself on the scooter handles, levitating himself up so only his hands rested on it. After a few seconds, he quickly switched to merely a single arm.

"Show off," Raph muttered darkly under his breath, rather put off by Ren's current admiration for his brother.

"Someone's jealous," Mikey teased, but before Raph could go after his youngest sibling and strangle him, the sound of footsteps suddenly rang in his ears. The others had heard it too, it soon became apparent, as they immediately paused whatever they were doing and stared at the warehouse entrance.

"Hide!" Leo whispered, and everyone ducked behind the cover of the empty crates arranged carelessly across the sides of the warehouse. Leo, Mikey and Casey hid behind the tower of crates at the right side while Raph and Ren stayed at the left. Raph moved his head slightly to peek at whoever was coming into the warehouse- not very quietly, it would seem. Ren leaned close and did the same, struggling to catch a glimpse of the perpetrators, one hand on Raph's shoulder to steady herself as she stood on her toes. While it had become considerably less common now, Raph felt his mind go blank again as her body pressed closer against his. Then his attention was taken away as the people trespassing into the warehouse were identified.

"It's the mob!" Raph hissed. Sure enough, the Mob Boss, stocky and clad in a white suit and yellow tie, was leading a gang of man in suits and ties in. Behind them was a truck.

"This is the perfect place for drug trafficking and storing our weapons!" The Mob Boss crowed loudly as his men started unloading crates from the truck.

"He's sure skilled at being subtle," Raph mocked, but Ren's grip on his shoulders suddenly tightened. "No wonder I thought there were suddenly more crates then I had last been here! They were new- they must be the drugs and weapons he's hiding," Ren said in a hushed whisper. She heard movement beside her and readied her sais, only relaxing when she realised it was Leo. The latter had snuck across the room, leaving the rambunctious pair consisting of Mikey and Casey behind temporarily, unsure of whether they'd be able to sneak away quietly enough (Casey had already proven himself rather incapable of anything that required silence) without drawing attention. Master Splinter and April also had done the same, appearing by Ren's side.

"What do we do now?" April asked. The four- two turtles, one half snake mutant and one rat, turned to look at her.

"Ain't it obvious?"

"We kick their shells,"

"And put an end to whatever dishonest activities they are doing,"

"As always," Leo waved towards Mikey- a signal for him to be ready, and the eight of them materialised near the mob at instant.

"You shouldn't handle toys you're not ready for, Ugly," Raph snarled as he brandished his sais. The Mob Boss looked back, his eyes widening in fear. "Y-You again?!" He spluttered with rage, "Get them and destroy them!" The Mob Boss howled, and, following his command, his men swarmed forward, ready to put their foes out of action. Though, now with another fighter in their midst, the mob were easily dispatched off as Leo, Don, Mikey, Raph, Ren, Casey, April and Master Splinter kicked, punched and attacked, not giving them the slightest chance to retaliate.

"This is not looking good…" The Mob Boss groaned; on his own, he would never be able to finish off all eight of them. Unless-

The Mob Boss grinned as he ran to a nearby crate and rummaged through it, producing a small but complicated looking sphere. "It's over boys!" He shouted with a dark laugh, ready to make a run into the truck to escape as soon as possible. The rest of the mob (or whatever was left of them) took one last terrified glance at their enemies before making a run for it, some even completely forgetting the existence of the truck in their haste to get away.

"Darn!" Ren prepared to run after them, but with a grunt, The Mob Boss flung the device in her direction and disappeared with the truck. It rolled near Ren.

"A bo-" Ren's eyes widened and she bolted back, but even that wasn't swift enough as the five-second bomb exploded, the impact knocking the turtles, April, Casey and Master Splinter off their feet and into a refuge of broken crates. But the one affected the deepest was Ren, who, closest to the bomb, was flung back across the warehouse before smashing into a pile of crates and disappearing into a pool of wooden splinters. Fires started, spurred on by the wooden pieces that were strewn across the place- which soon became a blazing inferno.

"We gotta leave," Raph mumbled blearily, resurfacing from the wooden mass and rubbing his head. The others were coming to, dizzy but conscious.

Then his eyes fell on the lifeless figure which had rolled onto the ground from a pile of wooden pieces. Raph squinted.

His eyes widened.

"REN!" Her body, even from afar, was unmoving and still. He hurried over to the unconscious girl, fighting against the wave of pain flooding his head as well as the raging fire. Lifting her up in his arms, he turned to see Leo and the others ready to leave. But the entrance was blocked, and Ren's breathing was becoming more ragged. Despair flooded him. What if she-

"RAPH!" A hand moved to his shoulder, to steady his panicked mind. It was Leo.

"We'll get out of this alive. All of us. Including Ren," The leader indicated the unconscious girl in his brother's arms. Raph stared at Ren silently at Leo's last words. She seemed peaceful in her state of unconsciousness. Resolve renewed, Raph nodded. Leo smiled. Then his demeanor turned serious as he called to the others.

"Windows! The corner window where we came in! Let's go!" He bellowed, and everyone ran, climbing up the pile of broken wooden crates to reach the designated escape way. One by one, they squeezed out of the small window and into fresh air. But they could not rest just yet. As the final two members of the group- Raph and Ren surfaced into the cold night, the seven of them jumped, their feet barely touching the next roof before the warehouse behind them burst into yet more flames, raining even more wooden splinters everywhere.

Raph heaved a sigh of relief, ignoring his bruised and battered body. He bent down and propped Ren's body up against the roof's railings. "Ren," He called out softly, shaking her body gently for any response.

But the orange-haired half mutant remained still- her body cold and unresponsive.


	7. Friends and Family

**Sorry for posting this chapter at such a late time, I got caught up with school duties. Though when I was about to finish the story, something went wrong and I ended up losing it, so I had to retype it again. But please enjoy this longer Chapter 7 of Belonging~**

* * *

At first, all she could think of was pain. It hurt where she had crashed into the wooden crates; where she had been flung though the air like a mere rag doll. Her instincts had failed her. They hadn't been fast enough. Disgraceful.

Then she heard voices- familiar ones, not the smooth but cold tone belonging to her adopted father, or his annoying lackey who was leader of the Purple Dragons. She felt the fuzziest form of happiness. It sounded like _family_.

Despite the stabbing pains in her limp body, Ren smiled.

* * *

Raph stared gloomily at Ren's motionless body, which was spread out on the couch. He turned to Don, who seemed bent on examining a set of notes scribbled with formulas. "Are you sure-"

"Raph, you've been asking me that question for ages. For the last time, she will recover!" Don snapped, half-exasperated at his brother's repeated questions. It had almost become a ritual for him to spend most of the day watching the blacked out teenager on the sofa after training no matter how tired he was, perched cautiously on the arm rest, his face slightly saddened. Don had to admit, it was probably one of few rare times he had seen Raph in such a vulnerable state.

"Are you sure? She did take the largest impact from the bomb, and it's been rather long since then," Leo commented as both he and Mikey came over to join in the conversation.

"Her greater endurance as a half snake mutant helped; the injuries were lessened. She was lucky the bomb was a small one too," Don noted as he raised up another notepad which was filled with elaborate calculations.

"Small?! Did you forget how that pip-squeak managed to turned the whole warehouse into a bizarre flaming cave?!" Mikey howled in protest to Don's easy dismissal of the bomb.

"Well, I've examined whatever remains of it I could scavenge, and it's incredibly high-tech. I still don't quite know how it works, but it shouldn't be able to cause a very big fire; it's probably because of all the wooden crates that it managed to burn the whole place," Don answered. "Either way, Ren is fine, she just needs rest." Raph stared at the still figure on the couch slightly doubtfully. He knew she was strong, sometimes even far too strong for her own good, but...

"She will wake, right?"

"Ooooo, is Raphie scared that his sweetheart won't be there to kiss him goodnight?" Mikey taunted. Raph spun around and glared daggers at his youngest brother, preparing to lunge forward and throttle him once again.

"You guys are loud," Ren mumbled, though she couldn't help smiling as well, hearing the familiar bickering of Raph and Mikey.

"REN!" The four brothers chorused in unison as they crowded around the orange haired teenager, delighted that she was conscious again. Ren propped her body up, wincing slightly in pain as she did so.

"Actually, I had been up for a few minutes. But your conversation seemed too interesting to miss…" She grinned. Raph flushed with slight embarrassment, wondering if she had heard his worry for her in her unconscious state. But Ren moved on from that topic and gingerly got out from the couch; her body still ached somewhat, but it was bearable and could be dealt with. She stretched and yawned, the tips of her pointed teeth showing.

"How long was I out? An hour? Two?"

"Hour? You've been out for three days," Raph laughed, relief now flooding in. Sure, Don had consistently ensured him that she was not in any life-threatening situation and would wake, but seeing her awake from her blacked out state was certainly more assuring.

Ren felt her mind freeze.

Three days?

...

Uh oh.

"SHELL!" Ren screamed as she turned to the exit of the sewers and ran to it, almost knocking Raph back in her haste.

"Woah! Where are you-" Raph broke off as Ren disappeared from view in a matter of seconds.

"Should we go after her?" Don turned to Leo for guidance of the current queer situation, but even the leader was slightly at a loss of what to do over the sudden change of events. Thankfully, Master Splinter arrived.

"No, I sense that she has urgent matters to attend to. We shall obtain all the details from Ren when we meet her next time." Master Splinter settled the situation calmly before turning back to his room to mediate. Yet, even as he said those words, a sense of unease lingered in his mind. At the same time, Raph felt agitation rise in his chest, not quite knowing why. They both thought the same thing.

Would there be a next time...?

* * *

Ren almost collapsed in her room as she jumped from the window sill and landed clumsily on the floor. She fell to her knees and gulped in deep breaths of air, having far breached what her current stamina could offer in her despair to return home as soon as possible. Pain stabbed at her torso, the ache from her injuries pulsing from her recent exploit of her already limited strength.

But none of this pain could rival the wrath of Oroku Saki. The thought made her entire body go cold. Her adopted father wouldn't be pleased that she had been sneaking out without his permission. And not only that, she had been in contact with outsiders. That was the 'Golden Rule' that had been imposed on her since she became Oroku Ren- apprentice and daughter of Oroku Saki, The Shredder. He would give her freedom- allow her to travel to other countries once in a while when she was on her weapon hunts, give her a large room with her battle trophies on a grand display in it. But at the same time, she needed permission for venturing out at any time of the day, and had to grant utter obedience to his rules. She was also never to make any contact with others, and even if she did (such as the victims of her weapons hunt), she must never keep in contact with them.

Ren ran towards the washroom in her bedroom and turned on the basin's tap. Cold water poured out and she splashed the cool liquid onto her face repeatedly, trying to calm her ragged breaths. For a split second she considered lying- deny having ever been in contact with anybody when she was out at night, but she knew it was useless. Master Saki would know. He always did. She had broken all of the rules, simply by a reckless battle with Raph which led to many more events.

Raph.

Ren closed her eyes. Mentioning his name seemed to calm her. The turtle with the red bandanna. The turtle with a temper. The turtle who liked being the aggressive and strongest (in his own opinion, at least) member of the quad. The turtle who was the user of twin sais, just like her. The turtle... whom she had come to grow close to, came to like as more than a friend. She didn't know if such a feeling counted as 'love', but neither did she care. She had just felt contented being with them. But it had been foolish to believe the days would last. Starting from tomorrow, she would be locked in her room, with guards watching her every move to ensure she was confined within the boundaries. She would never see the turtles, Master Splinter, Casey and April again. It finally sunk into her. She would no longer be able to meet and talk to the people (and turtles and rat) whom she had come to view as family- far more so than her adopted father.

She would never be able to be with them again. They wouldn't even know what happened to her after her abrupt departure.

A heavy weight lodged itself into her heart. But before she had anymore time to dwell on the matter, the sound of knocking echoed from her door. Without warning, the door opened (she heard it creak) and someone stepped into the room. Ren closed the tap and wiped some beads of water off her face with the back of a hand. Squaring her shoulders, her arms poised at where her sais were hung on her belt, Ren stepped out of the washroom and stared up into her adopted father's dark eyes. If she had to be punished, she might as well face it bravely. Yet, he didn't seem angry.

On the contrary, he had a small smile on his face.

"I bring good news, Ren. But first I must apologise for neglecting you for the past week. You see, I was very caught up with the current project at hand and had been away from the house for a few days..." Ren stared blankly at Oroku Saki's face, though she carefully concealed her surprise. Could it be... Was there just the slight chance that, obsessed with his work, he had not bothered to check up on her, and had even left the house at the period of time she had been knocked out cold in the turtle's lair? It was too good to be true. Far too coincidental. But that seemed to be the only explanation for his reaction- his lack of angered outburst. In a hurry, Oroku Saki might have scribbled a note, or attempted to get one of his lackeys to inform Ren off his trip before leaving out of the blue. But if his lackeys had failed to find her, they would probably have been unable to contact him about Ren's disappearance for the fear of interrupting their master and invoking his wrath. Before that, he might have been obsessed with his task and failed to realise that his adopted daughter was neither present in her room nor the training room. Or anywhere else in the house, for that matter. And with that, Ren's disappearance from the house would have gone undetected, in spite of having been missing for three days. She knew just how deeply immersed her father would be in his work, almost to the point where he easily disregarded everything that did not involve life and death.

For the first time, Ren allowed the faintest glimmer of hope to penetrate her heart.

"Ren, did you truly think you could hoodwink me?" The smile disappeared. His eyes became cold. That was when Ren knew.

Oroku Saki had been aware of it all along.

But instead of cutting the chase and delivering a lashing blow towards her, he had decided to entitle her a minute ray of hope first, which would all the more make the disappointment and the punishment more severe. Despite herself, Ren felt a sharp stab of dislike at her adopted father's actions. It didn't seem right, and she was not only feeling so just because she was a victim.

"Ren," he sighed. "I adopted you when you were still a child, and raised you like my own daughter. I have granted you freedom, allowed you to roam the world to embark on your weapon hunts, and all I ask for is merely your obedience in exchange for such luxuries..." Ren fidgeted slightly and clenched her fists tightly, willing herself to be silent. The truth was, despite having been adopted by Oroku Saki- an act that would have probably saved her life, Ren did not feel as indebted to him as she should have.

It had made her feel guilty, but the truth was, she couldn't bring herself to completely trust the man. Her mind had pointed out that she should be grateful to the man for saving her life, but her instincts and her heart warned her to be careful- there was more about him than met the eye; he was not to be trusted. Perhaps that was why her adopted father generally favoured her older sister Karai more so then her, Ren recalled. She had been trained and sent to Japan to lead The Foot Clan there, while the ever rebellious Ren stayed under Oroku Saki's watchful eye. Yet even then, Ren had maintained a distance from the man and busied herself training and widening her collection of weapons. She snapped out of her thoughts as Oroku Saki glared at her, still not done with his tirade.

"The project I had been so obsessed with was all for your welfare Ren. I had been searching for an antidote for your mutation. And yet, this is how you choose to repay me? Not only did you show a complete disregard for my rules, you even went as far as to consort with your parent's assassins!" Ren's eyes widened in surprise. It was the first time he had addressed her past before. And... assassins? He was wrong. There must be a mistake. She had only been in contact with the turtles, and there was absolutely no way that they could have-

"You're wrong! I've only been talking to the turtles, and they would never-"

"Just how much do you know about them?" His silky voice cut through her wild protests. Ren gripped one of her sais and tightened her clench.

"I know enough." She whispered dangerously. Oroku Saki sighed.

"It would appear that you have been tricked by them, Ren. Do you fail to see that they are responsible for turning you into a half mutant? Those vermin are the sole reason that you have lost your parents and become an outcast shunned by society!" The man thundered.

"But I will give you a chance to redeem yourself, Ren. Kill the turtles. Avenge your parents. When you have done so, I shall reward you with the antidote I have recovered after weeks of research." To prove his point, Oroku Saki produced a glass bottle with a clear dark green liquid inside. Without awaiting her reaction nor answer, he turned and swept through the open door silently, leaving the orange haired teenager alone to contemplate about what to do.

* * *

Ren raised her right hand- balled into a fist, hovering in an almost tentative fashion over the wooden door.

She took a deep breath as she brought her fist down, but before she could make contact with the wooden door, voices boomed out from the opposite side. Not exactly boomed, Ren corrected, but her sharp ears still caught the ongoing conversation taking place at the other side of where she stood. She had always possessed extremely keen hearing, having trained at the bamboo forest near her house when she was younger, alone and blindfolded. But now was not the right time to delve into the past. Ren strained her ears as she heard her name between snippets of the conversation.

"Are you sure that girl will take your deal?" A gravelly voice asked, belonging to the annoying gorilla, Hun, Ren thought disdainfully. He was the arrogant muscleman who so insistingly believed that he was The Shredder's most prized subordinate and second-in-command, painfully unaware that the only person The Shredder trusted enough to bequeath the role of his successor to was Karai.

"Of course, Hun. Do you dare doubt me? I have blamed the death of her parents on the turtles and their rat, and I prepare to award her the antidote that can reverse her transmutation on the completion of her task, there is no possible way that she will refuse," The Shredder (He must be in his armour, Ren decided) remarked chillingly. Blamed? Ren repeated to herself silently. That was certainly a strange choice of words.

"But then, who was the one that killed her parents? What do you mean?" Hun was full of questions, his voice tinged with bemusement. Ren hid a snort. As important as Hun believed and made himself to be, he wasn't exactly the brightest of the lot. And they were already a pretty stupid bunch, Ren sniggered mentally.

"You disappoint me Hun," The Shredder's reply was cold and curt, his tone reminiscent of an annoyed parent telling off an overly curious child. Which made his next words even more unexpected than they already were.

"I did! I, The Shredder, was the one who assassinated Ren's parents! I was unaware that they had a child until The Foot's scientists experimented with her, but I saw her potential when she broke out of the lab and took her in." His voice turned colder, if that was even possible, and Ren could vaguely envision the twisted smile that must have adorned his lips now.

"Isn't it ironic that the child whom I saved, took in and raised, half-dead and cold on Christmas so many years ago, was the one who I was responsible for her status as both an outcast and an orphan?"

Without a word, Ren smashed through the wooden door, taking along with it part of the wall. She stared down at the mass of wooden splinters, her fists clenched tightly by her sides, trembling with suppressed rage.

She raised her head.

"I will kill you."

Ren jumped and charged at The Shredder with startling speed, easily knocking Hun aside in her fury. She unslung her sais, gripping each one tightly, and struck, cut, parried, punched and kicked at her adopted fa- No, at the filthy piece of vermin that was responsible for her parent's deaths. Ren ignored her wounds and injuries coldly. Here, her years of training, which stretched even back to her childhood days in Japan as she dealt blows to the wooden dummies in the forest, sometimes trying the task blindfolded, soon came into evidence. Her strength, further fueled by her rage, easily knocked out Hun (with a well-aimed kick and smash of her sais to his head) and easily matched the Shredder.

"You were always a rebellious child, Ren," The Shredder sneered coldly as he deflected a punch. "You never fully trusted me, even though I went through great lengths to earn your alliance," Ren ignored his words, her face a mask of indifference. All that mattered now was bringing this piece of trash down with her own weapons, the two sais her father had crafted for her before his demise. The very thought of her father sparked her confidence again as she brought out yet another onslaught at The Shredder. The Shredder glared down and quickened his pace, intent on ridding himself of the orange-haired nuisance.

"Yet, you forget yourself. I obviously have the upper-hand in this situation," The Shredder hissed. His words stopped Ren, but the latter refused to be intimidated. Instead, she leveled The Shredder's glare with one of her own and raised her eyebrows, a sign that she disbelieved him. To prove his point, The Shredder grabbed a glass flask from a table, filled with a clear green liquid.

"This, as I have said before, is the antidote to your mutation, which I have acquired through extensive weeks of research. Drink it, and you will revert back to normal and be able to live a normal live once again. Kill the turtles and the rat. Eliminate them, and I shall give it to you." His voice hardened.

"But refuse to do so, and I will crush this bottle, along with your only chance of pursuing a normal life." The Shredder snarled.

Ren hesitated. A part of her was screaming, telling her to attack until the monster responsible for her parent's deaths fell- a final act of avenging them. Yet another smaller part of her was whispering treacherous thoughts, coaxing her to do The Shredder's bidding and obtain the antidote, to regain a normal life. She would be able to step into society again without people screaming at the sight of her, without needing to hide. She could walk the streets, free of any kind of restraint. She could start a life up top, go to school, make friends and see Toby again. The thoughts made her skin go cold. The prospect of being human again. The prospect of having a peaceful and normal life.

The prospect of belonging.

Ren stepped towards The Shredder, her hands by her sides, clinging on tightly to her sais. Yet she made no attempt to strike.

The Shredder smirked underneath his mask. His victory was certain. The turtles will die. Die at the hands of someone they trusted.

Ren looked up slightly at the Shredder, her face emotionless.

"Dream on, Tin Can."

The orange haired teenager then promptly lifted up her foot and slammed her boots into The Shredder's chest, who, caught off-guard and not expecting an attack, staggered back and fell, breaking the table. Standing over his fallen self, she felt triumph flare in her chest.

"The only reason I wanted to go back to being normal was to have belonging, a place to belong to. To have friends and people close to me again. But even without going back to normal, even without the antidote, I already have all that."

And even as she said those words, she knew.

Memories of the past days, of spending time with the people who became the friends and family she lost, flashed past her. Master Splinter, April, Casey, Leo, Mikey, Don and Raph, the people who welcomed her, accepted her as who she was despite her hideous appearance, who accepted her as family in spite of it. She no longer needed to be normal. She already had belonging- a place to belong to. And that was by their sides.

"And I wouldn't give them up for anything in the world!"

"Then I have no further need of you." The Shredder's voice was suddenly even more ominous. Forced to accept that despite her potential and strength, Ren could no longer be roped into becoming his ally, her existence was no longer a question. The Shredder slammed his iron fists into Ren's face repeatedly, knocking her back as she staggered under his heavy blows, before proceeding to deliver a swift kick that broke her ribs. Ren resolutely ignored the pain and struck out with her sais, but The Shredder, now resiliently intent on killing her, dodged her attack and instead, grabbed one of her wrists. Twisting it into an awkward angle- enough to draw a strangled scream of pain from her throat, he pulled the teenager into a closer range and kicked her again, this time aiming for her foot. Finally, he threw the the orange-haired teenager back, who, at this point of time, was barely standing.

"This was the move you were so fond of using, wasn't it? The one that the turtle in the red bandanna copied from you as well. Lee was a good spy to make use of, lumbering about and starting a fight to bring you and the red bandanna turtle close together." With that, The Shredder ran forward and executed an uppercut- but instead of using his fists and knocking Ren away with a devastating blow to her chin, he speared through her stomach with his gauntlet, raising her up, as if flourishing some kind of bizarre trophy.

"It mattered not where you two have went that day, or whether you two had gone at all. I had a Foot Ninja tail you, and Purple Dragons everywhere if I needed their assistance. Since Day 1, I have always been aware of you and that turtle's meeting and relationship. The only day I was unaware was the day you went to the warehouse. With all of them there, my Foot Ninja could easily be seen. But, if it was only you two, lovestruck and reckless with your guard down, the Foot Ninja would easily pass by unnoticed." Ren stared at him through a haze of pain; a glimmer of shock flashed through the green orbs for a while. Blood trickled down her mouth and dripped down from her newest wound; where she had been stabbed with the gauntlet. She dimly heard rain drops falling outside.

"It seemed ideal for you two sai users to grow closer together, until you were inseparable. Then I would reveal the truth to you, that he was your parent's _murderer_, and you would proceed to exact 'revenge' on him, on all of them. You would have gained enough trust by then, to easily kill the turtles and the rat while they were unwilling to raise their weapons on you. Alas, you refused to do so, but it matters not now." The Shredder strode over to his balcony. It was indeed raining. He leaned over the wooden railings and held his arm out, dangling Ren over the great height below her. Thunder seemed to flash through the sky on cue, tearing the spread of dark inky blue laced with heavy grey clouds into half.

"It matters not now," The Shredder repeated, "For the death of a close one will still hurt them beyond means." He retracted his gauntlet and grabbed Ren's black hoodie- now thoroughly soaked in blood, and flung her down the entire foot building, not even bothering to watch as she plunged down- down to her death.

* * *

Raph gave a start as he woke from his sleep, panting as if he had been running for a long distance. Everyone had been in a rather subdued mood after Ren's sudden departure, but only Master Splinter and Raph had the nagging sense of unease, and admittedly, Raph's was stronger. He had seated himself on the couch, unable to concentrate even on training, and ended up staring blankly into space, every past memory spent with Ren echoing in his mind. Even Mikey seemed worried, not even bothering to tease Raph for the latter's spaciness, since the younger brother too was caught up with the queer events from earlier. Raph had finally excused himself and went to his room, hoping to banish all doubts and worries from his mind by sleeping. But he had barely fallen into a light, uneasy slumber when he suddenly woke, as if he had received a shock, left with the feeling that something bad had happened.

Raph lay his head back down and tried to sleep again, hoping, praying, wishing that doing so would rid himself on the sense of helplessness by falling into a state of torpor, but even in his rest (if it could even be called that), the vision of Ren, thrown from a great height and falling (one of the sais on her belt slightly cracked with a small part of it chipped off) continually haunted him. As she plunged into darkness, the charm she and Raph wore hung on her cold lifeless hand- unmoving and still even when she slowly fell to her death.

* * *

Cliff hanger~ The way the Shredder tosses Ren out of the Foot Building is somewhat of a call to when she remarks to herself in Chapter 1 that if her adopted father were to throw her down from the Foot Building, even her greater resistance as a half mutant would not stop her death.

Thanks for reading~


	8. One month

**Sorry for not posting sooner, I wanted to try 3 chapters in one day but evidently I couldn't even complete one due to school duties. This chapter may be a lot less thrilling compared to the action-packed Chapter 7, but it still plays an important part of Belonging/ A Place to Belong and I hope you will read it. Chapter 8 will be the second last chapter, though my updates may be slower as school has reopened now. Please please please read and review , and welcome to Chapter 8~**

* * *

Rain. It was raining. The orange haired teenager lay on the ground, her eyes staring- curiously blank and death-like, at the spread of dark blue and dull grey- like a picture completed by a messy yet unimaginative child.. Occasionally, a blinding flash of lightning would brighten up the dark background, then, a large blade of thunder would ripple across- tearing the sky in half. The teenage girl continued staring at the raindrops falling- so much like heaven's tears. Cold water fell on to her sore and bruised face.

Why wasn't she dead? But that didn't really matter. Even if she failed to die from the fall, she would easily be killed by her injuries, which had worsened considerably from the deathly plunge she had experienced earlier. Ren exhaled, and mentally winced (doing it physically hurt her) as she felt her broken ribs digging into her flesh. The kick must have done her in, she registered grimly. But she couldn't stay here, like a frail and sick patient awaiting death. It was an insult to her parent's morals- to never give up, to fight for your life when dark times came. They did a pretty good job combatting against their own deaths, though had ultimately fallen to The Shredder's dangerous gauntlet.

The gauntlet. Ren tried to raise her head to look at her wound, but it hurt too much. She closed her eyes. Technically, she didn't quite need to see it to be aware of her most fatal injury; she felt it quite clearly. Sharp and stabbing pain around her midriff. Blood was still pouring from the wound- her black hoodie was already completely drenched, save for part of its sleeves. Was this going to be the end of her?

Ren's emerald eyes strayed about, taking in her surroundings (it was difficult to do so with your head on the ground, unable to move. But she pretty much gathered that wherever she was. it was someplace wet). Her eyes fell on the silver bracelet splayed across her wrist- which lay at a somewhat awkward angle, twisted, beside her head.

"Raph…" Ren murmured, staring at the charm. He had given it to her- a silver bracelet with two sai charms dangling across the chain. It had been part of a pair, one for him, another for her. It was a connection.

She couldn't die now. She had to be strong. She had to get back to the turtles; she owed them an explanation. She had to see her family again, she had to see Raph again. The thoughts gave her strength. Taking a deep breath, Ren sat up, trying to drown out the screaming pain in her abdomen. She remembered- a suddenly distant memory, of herself, in a similar position lying on a couch, propping herself up to test the depth of her injuries in the turtles' lair. They had panicked over her unconscious state after receiving the blow from a bomb, but it seemed something greatly minute in comparison to now. Ren checked her wound. There was a lot of blood. Summoning her remaining strength, she ripped out a sleeve of her hoodie and wrapped it around the wound, securing it with a clumsy knot as her trembling fingers tried to tie the remaining bits of black (and slightly bloody) fabric together.

Ren looked around slowly, now in a comfortable enough position to register her current location. Apparently, she had strayed a little away from the Foot Headquarters, having landed in some curious shifty-looking alleyway. That was good, no one would notice her. Ren scavenged around the area (once again in a slow and painful motion) and found a dented metal pole. Just long enough to suit her height, she gingerly tested it by leaning her weight onto the pole, finally stopping when it held against her satisfactorily. Her right foot- where The Shredder had smashed an ironed kick into, felt limp and broken. Slowly, Ren placed one foot across the ground and dragged her right foot along, clutching onto the metal pole and stumbling even in her slowness. She couldn't climb roofs in such a state, her best bet would be to disappear into the nearest sewers and track her way to the turtles' from there. Ren took a deep breath and gripped the metal pole tightly, fixing a firm stare at the road- waiting for the split moment that it would empty and cars would cease to cross.

Ensuring that no cars were in sight, Ren leapt onto the road- immediately wishing she had not when she felt her chest throbbing painfully and her leg almost giving way. Fumbling with the manhole cover, she pried it open and disappeared into the sewers, landing in a pool of slimy water. The easy part was over; now was the hard part. She had to make her way to the turtles' lair alive.

She would make it through this. She _had_ to.

* * *

"Hah.. Hah…" Ren panted weakly as she advanced, placing her left foot forward, then dragging her right foot along, ploughing on with the metal pole she held in her hands. She had lost all sense of time; it was hard to interpret how much time had passed when you were stuck in the sewers with a bruised and battered face, broken ribs, an injured foot and having just survived a deathly fall from one of the tallest buildings in New York City. She had taken (more than she liked to admit) a few wrong turns, wending her way even deeper into the complex tunnel of sewers and ending up walking in circles several times. Navigating to the turtles' lair was harder than she thought. Before, she usually had someone bring her there (mostly Raph) and, from a faraway manhole, the current task seemed to loom over her; an impossible and uphill mission, especially with her head throbbing and her vision blurring with every step.

Blood was starting to leak out from her wound, dying the sewer waters red. She stared at her make-shift bandage and felt it slowly. It was already completely drenched with blood. Ren ripped out the other sleeve, but she felt her strength seeping away. She couldn't rest… She had to keep going… But even as those thoughts echoed in her head, her steps started faltering and her vision clouded.

Ren's body caved from her injuries as she collapsed in the sewers, blood steadily oozing out of her wound now, dousing a large patch of the waters crimson. Her last thoughts reverberated dimly around her head, wondering whether the turtles would find her, whether _Raph_ would find her, before the world turned black and she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

* * *

"I'm telling you! I saw her, well, I _think_ I saw her. But that's not the point! She was falling from a tall building…" Raph rambled on, attempting (and failing spectacularly), once again, to relate the vision of Ren's death to his brothers. However, the three other turtles had dismissed it as a sign of Raph worrying too much, pointing out that if a body were to be thrown down more than a 50 feet building, people were bound to notice and call the police. Thus, since there was no news reporting of a death of a teenager after plunging down from a skyscraper, none of his brothers, took on his stories too seriously.

"Come of it, Raph! You're thinking too much!" Don chided as he raised his head from a stack of notes he was reading.

"He can't help it, Donnie, he's in _love_," Mikey teased, stressing uncharacteristically much on the last word. Raph, his temper rising, ignored the unusually accurate jibe from Mikey and promptly lunged himself on the latter, venting his frustration and sense of helplessness against his unsuspecting brother. They continued wrestling with each other, with Leo and Don attempting to separate them, until Master Splinter, stern and strict as ever, came to survey the commotion.

"Enough! What is all this noise?" He shouted, though his calm demeanor did not break,

"Raph's been saying he dreamt ("I did not dream-" Raph protested, though he was quickly silenced by a stern glare from Master Splinter,) of Ren falling off a building last night, and insists that it's true. But there hasn't been any news of any deaths, and such a big fiasco would be on the news immediately," Leo pointed out, having been more serious and considerably less dismissive of Raph's account of events. The leader of the turtles was rather well aware of the special bond Raph and Ren held- even more reinforced by the paired chain bracelets they wore. It had been obvious that Raph had feelings for Ren from the very start (except, maybe, to Ren herself), but Leo wasn't quite aware of just how much Ren reciprocated his brother's feelings. She seemed trustworthy enough, as well as honest and brave, from what he observed, but Leo had also worried that she might hurt Raph, albeit unintentionally. Yet after a brief chat with her before they headed to the empty warehouse days ago (Cut short when Raph appeared and rather forcefully urged them to go downstairs to "prepare") and during the time they spent riding in their sports gear, Leo decided, Ren was definitely no harm nor threat. Yet know, Raph was fully convinced that something awful had befallen her...

"I didn't dream it!" Raph repeated, annoyed, "I saw it! Sort of," He added in a quieter tone. His brothers exchanged exasperated looks, but Master Splinter, on the other hand, looked thoughtful.

"Hm… That is certainly a curious vision to have, Raphael… Raphael?" Master Splinter repeated his son's name when the latter failed to reply. But Raph's face was blank, or more so, his eyes. He seemed to be in a trance of sorts, staring almost owlishly into the air.

"She's here." He whispered. Everyone stared for a second, before Raph shook his head for a while, then instantly turn and ran.

"Raph, where are you going?!" Leo demanded as the turtle in red sped away in the direction of the deeper sewer chambers, disappearing within seconds. Immediately, Leo took off after him and Don and Mikey followed his lead, leaving Master Splinter to shake his head and sigh at his son's reckless ways.

* * *

The sound of splashing footsteps echoed around the sewers as four turtles ran- three in pursuit of one. It continued for sometime before Leo put on an extra burst of speed and fell in step with Raph, who was being a lot faster than normal- spurred on by the vision he saw.

"Raph, where are you going?!" Leo demanded in between breaths.

"Ren. I saw her." Raph's voice came out in a hoarse whisper. For the first time, he turned to look at Leo, and as their eyes met- Leo's bemused ones with Raph's; worried and urgent, Leo somehow knew that his words were true, that Ren was in danger.

"Well? What are we waiting for then?" Leo bellowed at Mikey and Don, who were starting to lag behind, and gritted his teeth. "RUN!"

* * *

She looked even worse from when he had seen her in his vision. For one thing, she was lying, her head resting on her right hand, left hand clutching a metal pole, face first in water dyed the color of crimson. Blood. His stomach gave a sickening lurch. Squatting down, Raph gently flipped Ren's body over- and almost wished he had not as he received a close full view of her injuries. Her face was bruised and slightly bloody, and, as Raph and Leo lifted her up, the former moved her to a piggyback position- and immediately had part of his shell coated with blood, soon realising that the black bandage (which was actually one of her sleeves) around her midriff was not soaked with water but blood. He fought the urge to throw up (Mikey, however, turned a delicate shade of puce, spun around, and continued a series of retching sounds punctuated frequently by gruesome splattering noises) and, instead, carried her in his arms. They had raced back to the lair as quickly as possible, though he was careful not to worsen her injuries and tried his best to tone down the jerky movements of running.

In their frenzied pace, the lair soon came into sight and the turtles burst in, wheezing and panting from exertion.

"My sons! What-"

"Sorry Master Splinter, not now. April, I need your help!" Don interrupted Master Splinter, throwing him an apologetic look before beckoning to the redhead seated with Casey and carefully carrying Ren from Raph, laying her out on the sofa. They set to work.

"Leo and Raph, bring me bandages! Lots' of it!" It soon became apparent that April was in full commando mode. The two turtles followed her command and ran to retrieve the bandages. "Mikey, bring me the first aid kit in Donnie's room!" Mikey heeded her words and sped towards the designated location. "Casey-" April paused.

"Yea?" Casey asked, an almost covetous look on his face.

"Er, stay by my side!" Leo, Raph and Mikey soon hurried back with the needed supplies and dumped them on the table, which was moved near to the sofa. Don and April set into action, bandaging her injuries and wounds as best as possible, keeping their wincing to the minimum as they surveyed how bad a state Ren was in. Leo, Raph, Mikey, Master Splinter and Casey looked on apprehensively from around the sofa, though they made sure to distance themselves slightly from the furiously working duo

"This one seems the most serious- Ugh!"April caught sight of Ren's most serious wound, which, even with a bandage on, still drew a look of mingled revulsion and fear from the redhead. She, too, turned a pale green, but resolutely continued working (here, Mikey had the grace to look ashamed) along with Don. Slowly, April removed the badly bloodied makeshift bandage with a look of disgust, and the seven of them stared in some form of transfixed horror at the chasmal wound in her abdomen. Or two gaping wounds, to be exact.

Then it all fell into place, all of a sudden.

_Two_ gaping wounds.

A gauntlet.

A Japanese man.

The Shredder.

Raph felt his blood run cold at the realization. Oroku Saki, The Shredder, was Ren's adopted father and master. He had known about her adopted guardian being of Japanese descent with a palatial home, and it took _this _for him to figure out it was The Shredder? How many rich, Japanese man lived in New York City?! Feeling too sick with nerves and guilt, as well as his own sheer stupidity, Raph left the scene silently and retreated into his room, hugging his knees close to himself and laying his head on them, radiating a rather depressing aura. He heard footsteps.

"Raph? You okay?" It was Leo. Raph sighed.

"Worried." There was a pause.

"It-" Leo hesitated. He wanted to say that it was okay, that everything was alright, that Ren would be fine, but the words died in his throat. Would she really, with such serious injuries?

"You like her, don't you?" He changed the subject. It sounded more like a statement than a question.

Another pause. "Yea," Raph grunted dispiritedly, finding no reason to deny it anymore. More silence.

"I should have known! She… She said some stuff bout her father, and I should have known it was The Shredder! I should have stopped her or something, I should have-" Raph's voice broke and his sudden outburst ended limply as he blinked back tears.

"She obviously wanted to hide it. It isn't your fault, Raph. She gave us snippets of information about her father too. All of us dismissed it." Leo comforted. Raph still looked miserable. A tear rolled down his cheek. Even more silen-

"Guys! Come quick!" Don's voice sounded frantic. In a flash, Raph was up on his feet, any previous traces of crying vanishing mysteriously, neck to neck with Leo as they ran and somersaulted down to meet everyone. Mikey, Master Splinter and Casey were standing around Don, April and Ren.

"I…I-" Don gulped. April cut in, seeing his deeply unsettled state.

"She won't make it."

He had never believed that silence could be this loud.

Time seemed to stop. Sound ceased to exist. Raph stared disbelievingly at his scientific brother. It wasn't possible. Ren couldn't leave them. He was joking. He had to be. They haven't tried every possible way of healing her. They were lying. Ren couldn't- just couldn't _die_.

"I think we s-should say some words to her before-" Don broke off, and the unsaid words "before she dies" hung uneasily in the air. April, once again, stepped in. Gesturing to Casey, both of them knelt down beside the sofa, where Ren lay. Despite the bruises and cuts, Ren's face had taken on the smooth appearance of blissful unconsciousness. She could have been sleeping.

"Ren… I never thought we'd have another human with us. It didn't matter that you were a half-mutant, it _never_ mattered what you were. You were one of us, part of out family. Thank you." April whispered, though loud enough for everyone to hear. Casey, who had never been good with words, opened his mouth, but seemed to think better of it and shut it again, nodding vigorously to show his assent before ending, too, with a heartfelt "Thanks" in his thick Brooklyn accent. They moved out of the way for Master Splinter.

"My child, you were a daughter I never had. You were an outcast, like me and my sons, and yet, despite being raised in different conditions set apart from us, you still retained great traits of honor and bravery, great characteristics of a ninja. I was always happiest and deeply enjoyed time I spent with my sons, Casey and April, my family. I never thought it was possible, but with you around, the time I spent with all of you became even _more_ enjoyable. Even if you do leave us physically, I believe, you will still stay with us spiritually. You will always be part of us, Ren." Master Splinter said in a heavy voice, turning away sadly as his sons' turn came. Raising his head, he realised Raph had not joined his brothers. He merely stood there, seemingly uncomprehending and silent.

"Ren, you were like another older sister," Mikey started. "A cool, strong and butt-kicking older sister!" He added brightly. Then he sobered down. "I… You didn't laugh at me when I didn't know things, didn't mock me when I'm slow. Which was"- Mikey raised his head and did some calculations-" A lot of times. You just passed all of this off and told me to keep at it and work hard. You… Thanks. For- for everything." Mikey ended uncertainly.

"Ren, you never laughed at me or called me boring when you talked to be about my science experiments and inventions, even when you didn't understand what I was saying. You were just truly curious to know what I was doing, and that proved to be a great deal of motivation many times. Thank you." Don croaked, guilty about his inability to save the orange-haired teenager.

"Ren, you are our sister. We love you, no matter who or what you are. You'll always be with us," Leo said simply, and all three closed their eyes- a moment of silence to honor Ren before standing up. Only Raph was left.

Raph walked numbly towards Ren, not knowing what he was doing nor what he was going to say. He stood beside her unmoving for a while until Leo eased him into a kneeling-down position, before leading everyone away- to give the duo some privacy. Raph was barely aware of them leaving, though his mind vaguely registered that he could talk to Ren with no restrictions now.

"Remember the first time we met? You kicked my butt and stole my sais that day," Raph's eyes seemed to soften. He was saying whatever came into his mind first. "Then on the second day, I hunted you down again and we battled one more time. You actually won, come to think of it, but you got bored with winning and we kinda settled on a compromise. We sat down and talked. I learnt a lot bout you that day. Then after that, it just seemed… normal to be with you, talking to you, laughing and chatting with you without a care in the world. Those days… I really treasure them. We were so alike, headstrong, stubborn, rash, impulsive, sai-lover…" Raph trailed off for a bit, realising what he said were not all quite ideal traits, with the exception of, maybe, the last one. "Oh yea, and you were kinder to Don and Mikey."

"I like you." The words were out before he knew it, and all of his feelings- of guilt, sadness, helplessness seemed to pour out. "I'm sorry, sorry I never admitted all this to you when I had the chance, sorry I never realised… even though it was so obvious that your adopted dad was a dangerous bucket head psychopath! I'm sorry, sorry I never tried to stop this, sorry it took all this"- he waved his hands around in a slight sweeping motion- "For me to realise I really like you. A lot." He stared down now as something seemed to hitch itself in his throat, unable to speak anymore nor continue looking at Ren. His words of parting seemed to have made her death definite- irreversible, true, _real._

"Took you long enough, Raph."

Raph looked up and stared.

Ren's eyes flickered open and she grinned, showing off her pointed teeth again. Her cheek muscles ached a little- both because of the punches she received and due to having not smiled for a considerable amount of time. Raph's eyes widened and he gulped.

"I… You… Aren't you… Why… Donnie said you were dead!" Raph blustered, highly disconcerted by Ren's apparent "Back from the dead" act.

"I think he said won't make it or something. Couldn't hear too well, just a few words here and there before I woke," Ren answered, frowning.

"When did you wake then?"

"Around after when Leo finished. I heard a few words and some murmurs from them. Left some sort of warm feeling in me, even though I can't listen to everything." She was now fighting to keep a straight face.

She had heard every single word he said.

But she was alive.

Suddenly, Ren made some sort of movement- Raph thought to check how bad her injuries were again and made to stop her, but Ren, instead, leaned forward to him. Their faces were inches away from each other again.

"I kinda like you too," And she kissed him. Raph felt his eyelids close for some reason. "Gut feeling" again, he supposed. Suddenly, Ren broke away from him and lay herself heavily on the sofa, wincing in pain as she did. Footsteps told Raph that she had made it in time as almost a second later, Leo, Mikey, Don, Master Splinter, April and Casey appeared in the room, having heard the unusually familiar voice of the companion they thought dead, and Raph felt great relief. This time; it would be even harder to stop Mikey, Don, Leo and Casey's teasing. _Especially_ Mikey's.

As everyone crowded around her, surprised but happy and chattering animatedly, Ren suddenly remembered The Shredder, and his ominous grudge towards the turtles and Master Splinter.

"I just remembered-" She winced again, though the pain had dulled slightly. "What is your relationship with Oroku Saki, The Shredder? He seemed so intent on killing-" She stopped when the air seemed to take a darker turn.

"We go a long way back with bucket head," Raph started, and within minutes, Splinter's backstory was shared. Having only learnt the backstory of the turtles', Master Splinter's past was a surprise to Ren and she listened intently to the story of how the seeds of enmity bloomed between the two parties. At the end of the story, Ren was silent for a while.

"The Shredder thinks I'm dead. He won't be expecting it for me to bring the fight to him," Ren snarled viciously, shattering the silence. "He killed my parents! Killed my parents... tried to blame their deaths on you... went to- went as far as to use the antidote to my mutation as a prize if I kill all of you..." Her hatred was rendering her almost incapable of speech, but she forced the bits of information out either way. Though for the turtles, Master Splinter, April and Casey, it was suddenly a lot to take in.

"Excuse me? He tried to get you to kill us by offering you a antidote to turn you back to human as a reward? You didn't take up that offer, d-did you?" Mikey squeaked. "Ow!" He whined as Raph answered with a slap to the youngest brother's head.

"'Course not! Though," A thoughtful look crossed Ren's face. "I did think, wonder a bit, I mean, about how it would be if I did follow his orders and turn back to normal with the antidote. But then I realised, I already have everything I wanted now- a family. There's no need to turn back to a normal human, and I couldn't have been any happier elsewhere," Ren smiled softly, a sharp change from her venomous display of hatred towards The Shredder before. Raph felt relieved, though he hid it behind an impassive mask.

"But either way," Her demeanor hardened. "I'm still going to avenge my parents. No matter what."

"You cannot do so now! You have injuries to tend to! Act impatiently and it will be the end of you! You have to wait for your injuries to subside and be sensible!" Master Splinter cut in sharply, though his worry for Ren was evident in his eyes. Ren hesitated, evidently having planned to storm the Foot Headquarters as soon as possible. She sighed and took a deep breath.

"One month," Ren declared as she looked into Master Splinter's eyes determinedly. "One month, I will train and heal, and then I will kill him."

"One month? It's not possible for your injur-" Don remonstrated with a look of horror, but Master Splinter waved him off and voiced his answer.

"One month." He agreed. "One month, and _all_ of us will bring The Shredder down. Together."


	9. If I survive

**I'M SOOOOOORRRRRYYYYYY . I'm a Year 3 in school now so I've been swarmed with homework ever since the start of school, so I couldn't find time to post the new chapter. Originally supposed to be the last chapter, I decided to split it into two because of it's length (and to leave you guys in suspense), but I've already done a part of the last chapter, so updates would be soon I hope. This is the second last chapter since I decided to break off another chapter from this one, and please read and review.**

* * *

One month, it soon became apparent, could be both a very long period of time and yet, also a short one. The time where it was a long stretch of several slow days was when her injuries (Her abdomen now bore a large scar where The Shredder had previously stabbed her) were throbbing painfully after she accidentally over exerted herself, or when she found herself on the ground, lying in a painful heap when she had used too much force for a task as simple as walking. Ren struggled enormously with her limited capabilities at the start, having quite taken for granted and now deeply longing for her previous strength. She was often reduced to a ball of cursing at a corner of Raph's room, having just failed at something she could have completed easily before, now due to her serious injuries, and almost endangering another part of her body (usually her left leg or arms) by threatening to break the closest thing to her out of frustration- only barely managing to stop when Don once again warned her (now not even bothering to look up from what he was doing) that by hurting herself more, she would be steadily lengthening the amount of time before she could face The Shredder and possibly revoke Master Splinter's permission to do so. She would then hover between venting her anger out or heeding Don's advice, and would finally chose the latter after a few more seconds of indecision, then turning away and stalking into Raph's room, muttering darkly under her breath. It became such a frequent happening that everyone had gotten used to it, and Don would be able to time his warning perfectly- exactly two seconds after Ren failed at her current task at hand- usually characterised by the sound of something breaking or a loud grunt of pain- when Ren cautiously tried to go back to her training regime and, as mentioned earlier, found herself lying in a painful heap on the floor.

"I hate this. I feel weak. Useless. Helpless," Ren spat. She was seated in the room with Raph one day, after her hundred and sixty-seventh spectacular failure. She had even grown tired of trying to vent her frustration by breaking things- not that she had ever gotten to that stage, and now sat restlessly, attempting to alleviate her gloom by tossing her sais up and catching them easily. However, at her sixth throw, her hand fumbled with the catch and the sai fell to the floor with a clatter. For a while, utter silence reigned in the room as both stared at the fallen sai on the ground. Raph braced himself to stop another tantrum from Ren- her temper had become frightfully close to the surface these days at her inability to do just about everything and anything. Ren, however, gave a large sigh and huddled into a ball. Since the start of the month, an unspoken peace seemed to linger between them, the duo were both rather comfortable and contented in each other's presence- even if neither of them was speaking (Mikey did enough talking to last them several more months whenever he came to bug Ren and tease Raph some more.)

"I'm growing weak." She mumbled, hugging her knees tighter to herself.

"Nonsense," Raph dismissed, searching for a way to cheer her up. Now, it became rather obvious that the key to Ren's normally bright and confident self was her _strength_- a result from her constant training since young, which had raised her skills and stamina to the peak; an undeniably great feat for her age. Not just plain brute force, but her skills in handling weapons- her strongest trait. Yet it had its downside- Ren had come to depend so much on her two strongest traits that without it she became unstable. And now, her strength was limited and her skill, deeply blunted by her injuries. Ren was easily robbed of her two strongest traits simply through a considerably brief skirmish with The Shredder- in which she had been unable to injure him severely even then, and that further heightened her deep hatred towards the man.

"Look, you aren't strong just cos' of your training and skills. You're strong cos you're you- determined, headstrong and the user of twin sais. Stop trying to exert yourself before your injuries heal- do it slowly at the very least." An idea dawned on Raph. "Try meditating with Leo and Master Splinter. They'll give you all the spiritual talk and make you feel better. I think." He ended with a mutter, rather spoiling the "professional" aura he previously radiated, much to Ren's slight amusement. She tilted her head to one side to contemplate his words.

"Thanks."

Raph gave a vaguely undecipherable grunt (though to Ren, she knew it was the turtle's way of saying "Don't mention it"), but he still turned away slightly to hide the small grin on his face. Ren's next words, however, snapped him back into attention soon.

"I didn't tell you, but Sa- I mean, The Shredder," Ren's deferential habit of calling The Shredder "Saki-sama", or, as English would have it, Master Saki, was fast evaporating, though there were a few times when she slipped back to her old habit when not thinking. "He said, he said he was aware of our meeting and relationship since the start. He had a Foot Ninja to observe me from afar when I went out on the first day. I think." She frowned and fingered her sais hesitatingly, realising that she had somehow picked up Raph's habit of tagging the words "I think" to the back of her sentence whenever she was uncertain. "Anyway, I didn't feel any presence when I left, but then, I could have missed it. I _was_ pretty excited about going out after all. He also said that since the first time I went out, he knew about all the ongoings- that the only day he didn't know anything was on the day I got hit by the bomb, cos there were too many of us and the Foot Ninja would be noticed." Ren stopped, not sure if she should continue or not. She had prolonged the moment of telling Raph all this. It seemed... wrong. That during their conversations at night, a Foot Ninja had been in the shadows recording their conversation, enlightening The Shredder about every single information they exchanged. That their deep bond- even the unofficial date at the arcade, was _forged_ and manipulated by The Shredder, of all people. She had been disgusted by the abhorrence, and deep down, frightened that Raph might dislike her after all- might consider that their relationship was untrue. Indeed, Raph was silent for a while. He stared down at his own sais with a frown- thinking. It wasn't until he shifted uncomfortably and looked up at Ren did the latter realise she was holding her breath.

"Y-you don't mind, do you?" Ren blurted out, her voice more uncertain than Raph had ever heard before. The fact that Ren had actually stuttered got Raph thinking again- which was rather unusual. As always mentioned by Leo, he was the sort of "Action first, Talk second" guy, a trait which had landed him in more than one sticky situation before.

"So that time we went to the arcade. The Purple Dragons were under him too?"

"Yea."

More silence.

"The Shredder didn't arrange our meeting." Raph spoke out suddenly. "_You_ chose to challenge me when you saw me. You chose to meet me. He may have known, but everything else was my- our choice." He raised his hand, once again, indicating the silver sai charms that twinkled in the light. Almost instinctively, Ren did the same.

"The Shredder didn't create _this_. He didn't create our bond. We did."

Ren stood up and ran at Raph, and for one wild, split second, the turtle thought she was going to stab him with her sais. However, Ren merely reacted by throwing her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Her head rested on his right shoulder, and for some reason, he felt wetness there.

"Thank you." Her voice came out somewhat muffled. Raph answered by resting a hand on her back and patting her slowly, in a somewhat hesitant motion. It felt warm. Out of the blue, though, Raph caught sight of a flash of orange and hurriedly turned his head to catch sight of Mikey's face split into one large grin. He gave an inward groan.

Nevertheless, the rest of the month went by smoothly (if you ignored Raph chasing after Mikey for a period of two weeks ever since that incident).

* * *

It was time. Looking back, Raph almost wished that the one month would begin all over again. Even though the air was charged and tensed, life was still peaceful (albeit that it seemed like a death sentence was looming over them). He had asked Ren before- when the latter's injuries were rapidly healing and she was slowly gaining back her previous strength, as well as an even more refined inner strength, whether she would have preferred her previous lifestyle where The Shredder had not attempted to stop her from going out at night to join them. The orange haired girl had mulled over the thought for a considerable amount of time.

"Well, I know it wouldn't last forever. The Shredder would have found out even if he didn't know from the beginning, and I don't think my body could continue taking all that exertion-" Raph let out something between a snort and a cough. Considering she had so narrowly escaped death, he doubted anything beyond that would actually lay anything more than a dent on her. "-But look at it the other way. If I win this battle, I'll be free. I can become part of your family permanently." And with that, Ren had disappeared to join Master Splinter and Leo in meditation. It was not until she had left did Raph realise the implication of her words.

"... if I win this battle..."

If I survive.

* * *

Back then I always came and went from The Foot Headquarters from this building and through that window. I doubt The Shredder bothered to lock it up or anything; he thinks I'm dead." Ren was speaking rapidly- more to herself and Raph than to everyone, though, but the turtles and Master Splinter still caught on anyway. April and Casey were left at the sewers- their job of checking up to see if Oroku Saki had made any moves the week before the ambush, was finished, though they promised to do their best to help in anyway possible while the turtles, Master Splinter and Ren entered the battlefield.

"Are you sure you guys wanna do this? I can be fine alone..." Ren trailed off reluctantly. Now that the day was here, the fact that the turtles and Master Splinter were going to be fighting beside her, that she was going to be bringing them to, possibly, their demise, was starting to become more apparent.

"We're family. And family stick together." Leo answered firmly. Her held his hand out, and the other five placed theirs over his- the final marks of their bond before the battle.

"Let's do this."

Ren went first. Taking a few steps backwards, she ran and jumped from the safety of the building onto one of the window sills of The Foot Headquarters. Ensuring that the others would follow her lead, she eased herself up to the top floor steadily by climbing, using anything in her way to pull herself up- even bricks and other strange ornaments used to decorate the building.

"Do... You... Always... Do... This?" Mikey gasped as he struggled up, spurred on only to avoid the wrath of Master Splinter's walking stick.

"Mn," Ren grunted back, looking rather distracted now. The prospect of returning to her old home- albeit temporarily, had unsettled her slightly. Finally, after much climbing, the turtles collapsed into Ren's old room, while Master Splinter and Ren landed cautiously on the carpeted floor.

"Sometimes I use the front door," Ren said to no one in particular- though she seemed to have recalled Mikey's earlier questions. Mikey looked rather rankled by her revelation.

"Tin Can has a front door and you didn't tell us?!" He hissed in indignation.

"We couldn't have used it in the first place, remember? We _have _to keep a low profile so they don't notice us!" Don remonstrated fervently, though he, too, was lying in a disgruntled heap beside Mikey.

"O yea, like they're not gonna notice us when we attack them," Mikey muttered darkly under his breath, though he made no further attempts to press the subject. Ren was now looking around the room. Without lights at night time, it was almost impossible to decipher what was where, but she had lived here for a few years. Closing her eyes, she could envision almost every detail perfectly- especially the weapons shelf.

"C'mon. The Shredder should be in his office," Ren snapped, jerking the turtles away fro their attention of the room. Swift but silently, all of them made their way to The Shredder's personal headquarters.

"Want to try a quiet approach?" She whispered questioningly to Raph. It was the strangest sensation, she thought, standing on the other side of the door leading to a battle that may claim your life.

"Worth a shot." Raph grunted back.

Ren lifted her foot slightly and swung it front, smashing it into the wooden door and, yet another time, taking part of the all along with it, such was her pent up energy and strength being released.

"_This_, is the quiet approach?!"

"Oh come off it. Like Mikey said, it's not like they won't notice us when we attack them!" Though, before they could bicker anymore, their exchange was interrupted by the appearance of the owner of the room.

"YOU?!" The Shredder spat venomously at the sight of the orange haired teenager. "You're a stubborn one, aren't you? Just like your insolent parents!" The taunt of her parents seemed to send Ren over the edge; the next thing she knew, she was flying to The Shredder with her sais in her hand. The Shredder, in his armor, easily returned her blow, calling out his Foot Ninja in between strikes. Sure enough, his loyal ninja troop seemed to materialise out of nowhere, preventing the turtles and Master Splinter from helping Ren. Soon, a full-out battle was raging in The Shredder's quarters, slowly spilling out into the hallway and eventually taking over the whole floor. Ren, at first, tried to keep track of her friends in combat, but not only had that led to a few close shaves, she had failed to identify green or grey in the mass of ninjas and was forced to drop the idea, concentrating, instead, on her current battle.

"Did I tell you how I killed your father?"

Ren ducked from a punch and kicked.

"He fought bravely, I will give him that,"

She deflected one of his blows and punched.

"But in the end, he was still weak."

Her effort of punches and kicks were suddenly doubled.

"He fell in battle, and I gladly plunged my own gauntlet into his throat!"

There was no masking her anger now. Impulsively, Ren slammed her sais in the direction of The Shredder's throat. But the latter, having predicted the move, sidestepped, making her miss. The momentum of her strike carrying her a farther distance then expected- given that she had missed her target, The Shredder raised one of his ironed fists and punched Ren from behind, bringing her crashing to the ground.

"Even after a month, you're still a weakling. A weakling that brought along friends to die with her." The Shredder sneered callously.

"Your end will be like your parents'. Death by my own hands!" Then, brandishing his gauntlet. The Shredder brought down his deathly weapon. However, Ren, who, unlike their last skirmish, had not been injured to the point of an inability to move yet, pushed herself away from The Shredder's range- escaping his attack. The turtles and Master Splinter, she now saw, were being pushed back- a dot of green and grey in a sea of black. More ninjas, this time carrying chains, were appearing, and within mere moments, they had wrenched the turtle's weapons and Master Splinter's walking stick away from them. They were trapped- and helpless.

"FALL BACK!" Ren screamed, indicating the entrance to her room. The Shredder, however, had different plans for the girl and kicked at Ren. Ren sidestepped just in time, but The Shredder's connected punch brought a roaring ring to her right ear. Nevertheless, still running- and obliterating any ninja in her way, Ren reached the turtles and Master Splinter, leading them in the direction of her room. Frustrated, The Shredder snapped a pillar from the building and hurled it at the escaping five, effectively clearing a path for them to retreat in the direction of Ren's room. Screaming in rage, he lumbered after them.

Bolting into the room haphazardly, Ren quickly slammed several large bolts into place, locking the room and barring the ninja from any entrance- for now. Raph stared in surprise at the unusual number of locks attacked to her door. Seeing his look, Ren mumbled something about "Breaking the door" and "couldn't control my strength when young" in between gasps.

"Without our weapons, we don't stand a chance," Leo burst out as he panted heavily. The others nodded their assent, and Ren felt guilt burning inside her. "... Brought along friends to die..." The Shredder's chilling prediction echoed in her head. But now was not the time for that. They were slowly turning to her for guidance- even Master Splinter. She had to come up with a new plan.

"I... Never thought... You guys would lose... your weapons." Ren said, starting to regain her breath. Inhaling deeply, she steadied herself.

"I'm sorry." Raph walked up to her. For a moment, Ren thought he was going to shout at her- yell at her, admonish her for bringing them into this danger, and braced herself for the onslaught. Raph, however, evidently thought differently and placed his arms on her shoulders.

"We're family. Like Leo said, we stick together." His words calmed her.

"Err... Not to interrupt or anything, BUT WE HAPPEN TO HAVE THOUSANDS OF FOOT NINJA OUTSIDE BANGING DOWN THE DOOR!" Mikey screamed hysterically. Snapping back into reality, a sudden thought flashed through Ren's mind.

"WEAPONS!" She shouted in triumph, pulling Raph and gesturing to the others to follow her. Delving a little deeper into her room, she stopped at her weapons collection- her hand was still linked with Raph's.

"You can use the weapons here!" Ren smashed open (as carefully as she could) some of the glass windows and pulled out the weapons that lay inside.

"Nun-chucks, Bo Staff, Double swords, Walking sti- Err... This will do," Following her words, Ren pulled out the weapons whose names' she had recited, managing to produce a metal staff around the size of Master Splinter's walking stick and not even needing to question the prudent and elderly mentor for approval or help. This was her turf, her territory. Her knowledge and skill of weapons far surpassed anybody's; she was proving it outrightly now. The turtles and Master Splinter picked up the weapons she pulled out- each that they were most skilled with. Raph stared at Ren, wondering if she, too, would present a pair of sais for him to use.

"Here-" Abruptly, Ren unhooked both of her own sais and thrusted them to Raph. "I know you can use weapons other than your sais, but you're probably more skilled with them-" She indicated the twin sais that now rested on his hands, "- and I can still use the other weapons to the best of my advantage. A lot more better than you, that is."

"Gee, thanks for the boost in morale." Raph griped sarcastically. But he appreciated her gesture all the same. From Ren, this was the sign of ultimate trust- the fact that she was willing to lend him her precious sais.

"But if I find another crack when you return it to me after we leave this battleground. The consequences will be horrible." Her emerald eyes narrowed at her last words. Raph gulped and nodded, though he could not help sensing her rise in confidence- of which she chose to say "after" instead of "if" when addressing the possible aftermath of the situation. Ren's newfound confidence brought everyone's spirits up- along with their new weapons. Just in time too, as the Foot Ninja broke through the heavily barred door and launched their attack. Raph lashed out with his new weapons, though he craned his neck momentarily to see which weapon Ren was using to her aid, or, as she had said, to her greatest advantage. The answer soon appeared- quite literally- before his eyes.

She was using every single weapon she had collected.

The mass of weapons were now lying by her feet, and, as the Foot Ninja ran at Ren, the orange haired teenager scooped up a pair of tonfas in one single stroke and soundly defeated her enemies in a series of swipes, switching weapons swiftly to use to her advantage as soon as she saw fit. As Foot Ninja swarmed into the room, Ren seemed to lead a sort of bizarre dance of weapons- a blooming cinnabar flower in the midst of the enemy. She kicked, punched, leapt, struck, spun, swung and lashed out with all sorts of different weapons- all the weapons she had ever collected (save for the Bo Staff, Nun-chucks, Metal staff and Twin swords). A waltz of kamas, tonfas, kusarigamas, tekkos and katanas, a song of blades. Nothing, not even Master Splinter, was able to describe the scene they witnessed as the female teenager defeated the entire Foot Clan Ninja with her impressive display of weaponry.

"The Shredder!" Ren yelled as she surfaced from the pile of unconscious Foot Clan Ninja. Regaining their senses (Mikey still stared owlishly in awe at Ren, only broken when Raph grumpily rapped the side of his head to wake him up), the six of them raced out of the room, only to run into (not literally, thankfully) The Shredder himself.

"You have defeated The Foot Clan Ninja? I would have expected nothing less than the daughter of the legendary blacksmith," The Shredder's voice seem to announce a smirk. "It was a good idea for me to allow you to explore more about weapons after all."

"DON'T SPEAK AS IF YOU ARE MY FATHER!" Ren spat as she prepared to strike with the sais Raph had returned to her. She had promised. She would kill him, using the very pair of sais her father made for her. However, The Shredder stepped forward and grabbed her by her neck, resulting in the teenager furiously stabbing at his arm with her sais. The Shredder merely tightened his grip to prevent Ren from moving, easily deflecting the turtles and Master Splinter's attempts of forcing him to release his grip.

"Weren't you the one so interested in battling me? Well, YOU HAVE YOUR WISH NOW!" The Shredder snarled, lifting his arms and throwing Ren back into her room, before entering the room himself. The turtles and Master Splinter, who had been knocked back by his earlier assault, rushed to stop him, but The Shredder was prepared to seal the entire room. Hurling a small device into the air- the device which soon proved to be the same one the Mob Boss had produced and thrown at them, it exploded, bringing down a large part of the roof crashing to the ground- a wall of debris that could not be cleared or passed. The room (despite with a certain part of the roof gone) still remained intact- but well and completely sealed. The Foot Clan Ninja's bodies were blocking the window. There was no escape. This was a battle to their last.

Ren fought with her instincts- punch, kick, dodge, punch, duck, kick, kick, step sideways, neither giving way nor pressing on. It frustrated The Shredder, who was maddeningly intent on crushing her once and for all.

"I never did find a use for _this_, Ren," The Shredder hissed, suddenly producing a glass flask filled with green liquid. The antidote. Ren surveyed it emotionlessly, though her eyes were wary. What was The Shredder's plan? Almost as if he had read her mind, The Shredder leapt forward and made an attempt to unleash an upper cut, but Ren dodged back in time. However, his move soon proved to be a feint as he sprung up and sprayed the green liquid over her eyes.

Ren screamed as she fell to the knees. Her face seemed to be melting... And after a minute, the melting stopped, only to be replaced by pitch black darkness. She tried to open her eyes but found that she couldn't. Her eyelids were glued shut. She couldn't see.

She was blind.

She never heard nor saw The Shredder's next move until it was too late, where she felt the gauntlet tear at her face, followed by the warm sensation of blood.


End file.
